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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28312560">REAL</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongnugget/pseuds/jongnugget'>jongnugget</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Commission Projects [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EXO (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Dark, Fantasy, Historical References, M/M, Romance, Supernatural Elements, ish, look away if you're searching for Christmas fics haha, not very happy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:49:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>31,842</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28312560</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongnugget/pseuds/jongnugget</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There were many things in his life he wanted to run away from.</p><p>Jongin was not one of them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Commission Projects [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881316</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>REAL</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This isn't necessarily a very jolly fic fitting the Christmas mood, so if you're looking for a happy story to read, maybe skip this for a couple days haha</p><p>I wrote this story as a commission for @lzy_hyl ! Thank you so much for your request. It allowed me to challenge myself, trying to write something new that was also somewhat narrowly entwined to stories I have already written before, with similar vibes. It was fun writing it, and I am really sorry it took me such a long time to complete it. I hope you will enjoy it~</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A gush of wind blew past his face and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment.</p><p>When he opened them again, a dance of orange and gold unveiled in front of him. The leaves were falling from the trees, carried away by the cold front, until they gently landed in spirals on the ground. It was already covered in the yellow leaves that had left the now lonesome and empty-looking branches above him.</p><p>The last remnants of the sun’s warmth and a blue summer were leaving with the arrival of the harsh winds and a golden autumn.</p><p>Kyungsoo breathed in deeply, even if the cold air invaded his lungs painfully. Another fall, another winter. And then all over again.</p><p>“What are you staring at?!”</p><p>He flinched at the loud voice at the same time a hand unceremoniously collided with his back. He almost stumbled forward at the force of the other person lunging themselves at him from behind, shamelessly hanging from his side.</p><p>Kyungsoo turned to look at the newcomer with slightly narrowed eyes. Baekhyun was chewing on a gum obnoxiously close to his face, his eyes shining carelessly. His beanie was a little crooked, like he had hastily pulled it in a hurry after a reprimand from his mom.</p><p>“Nothing,” Kyungsoo shrugged the other one off himself, and Baekhyun just snickered quietly.</p><p>They started walking forward together.</p><p>“Did you finish the science report?” Baekhyun asked, but before Kyungsoo even had the chance to reply, the other sniffed. “Of course you did. Why am I even asking? Is it hard?”</p><p>Kyungsoo blinked away from the leaves on the ground and towards Baekhyun instead.</p><p>“You haven’t started yet?!” he couldn’t help the hint of shock that crept into his voice.</p><p>Baekhyun just shrugged, and Kyungsoo let out a dumbfounded breath.</p><p>He sometimes wished he could be more like Baekhyun and less like himself. He sometimes wished he could care less about everything and its consequences, and that he could enjoy living life just like the other one. Alas, it was deeper than him.</p><p>“You’re hopeless,” he sighed, craning his neck back a little, before finally letting a little smile pull on his lips. He elbowed Baekhyun lightly. “We’re still up for the arcade tonight?”</p><p>“Dude, of course,” his best friend scoffed, like it was obvious. “Just gotta make sure Junmyeon won’t bail again. He was sprouting some bullshit about the math quiz last night. But I’m in, I’m <em>definitely</em> in.”</p><p>“Good,” Kyungsoo nodded, a little silver lining appearing in his mind. At least there was something to look forward to after all the tedious hours at school. He threw his arm over Baekhyun’s shoulders, as they continued walking towards the school. The red bricks were peeking between the waltz of falling autumn leaves, and Kyungsoo tightened his grip around Baekhyun for a mere second. “Let’s go.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The arcade was always packed on Friday nights.</p><p>It was right between the food court and the cinema, and all younger people ended up finding themselves there between late dinners and midnight movie projections.</p><p>They were no exception. Kyungsoo always enjoyed coming to the arcade with his friends. The games were fun, and playing them with the others was certainly an experience that lit up even the dull days in a small town like theirs.</p><p>Out of them all, Baekhyun was the game addict – he had high scores on every machine. If it so happened that anyone beat him, he would demand re-matches until, eventually, he won again.</p><p>Chanyeol complemented him just right – another sore loser, he refused to let any loss go quietly. He would complain, and fish out a thousand excuses, sulking silently in the corner as the rest of them would tease him.</p><p>“I told you I fell in PE,” Chanyeol scoffed, waving his hand as proof. “If my wrist wasn’t all fucked up, I’d have definitely won.”</p><p>Yixing, on the other hand, always accepted those fiery jabs with a soft smile. He was one of those kids who managed to succeed in everything, seemingly without even trying that hard. He just patted Chanyeol’s shoulder as he moved away from the machine to give someone else their shot at the game.</p><p>And then there was Junmyeon. Junmyeon, who was sitting on the little table in the corner on self-appointed bag-watch duty, attempting to write his homework in the loud space. He didn’t really enjoy playing games much, so he preferred sitting on the side and watching. Many years ago, Kyungsoo had felt bad that the other might feel bored. However, with time passing, he had grown much closer to Junmyeon and had realized that the other was perfectly content with this – he had learned from the curve of his small smile as he watched them play, that he really was enjoying his time. Even if he didn’t join the cutthroat competition for the first place on Pac-Man.</p><p>Kyungsoo exclaimed loudly when his character successfully hi-kicked Baekhyun’s to a knockout. His fingers started wildly pushing the buttons on the machine, his laughter mixing with the lively chatter surrounding them. Baekhyun just threw him a quick look, before his fingers came to life too. In less than 20 seconds he had defeated him.</p><p>“Shit,” Kyungsoo stepped back, the smile stretching his lips. Baekhyun just smirked smugly at him, before looking back to the machine when Yixing challenged him.</p><p>“I got the sundae!”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s head whipped around when he heard the booming voice of Jongdae. He saw him making his way through the crowd towards their corner table with two big bowls.</p><p>“Come on,” he tugged on Chanyeol’s sleeve, and they left Baekhyun and Yixing behind. They’d join them eventually, but the sundae would not wait to melt until then. He did have his priorities.</p><p>“Extra sprinkles?” Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow at Jongdae. The other just placed both bowls on the table and smirked at him when his eyes softened at the amount of colourful chocolate sprinkles on the ice cream.</p><p>“Extra sprinkles,” he confirmed, shoving a spoon in his hand.</p><p>None of them waited for a formal invitation. They dug into the ice cream together.</p><p>“Can you please leave this alone for a second?” Chanyeol asked all of a sudden, and Junmyeon jerked. Kyungsoo laughed around a mouthful of ice cream when his friend defensively shielded his textbook. “You’re depressing me. I’m gonna flunk this class.”</p><p>“Then study,” Junmyeon deadpanned, and Kyungsoo tried not to laugh again at Chanyeol’s tormented expression.</p><p>Baekhyun and Yixing joined them eventually. Yixing’s hand found its way around Junmyeon’s shoulder almost too naturally, and Kyungsoo tried not to stare too enviously when Junmyeon’s eyes finally relaxed and he raised his spoon to Yixing’s lips.</p><p>How sickeningly cute they were. Kyungsoo almost sighed.</p><p>“It’s 80s thriller night,” Jongdae hummed, the cinema’s pamphlet in his hand. “They’re showing The Shining.”</p><p>“Cool,” Baekhyun’s eyes lit up with mischief. His eyes located Jongdae’s and they both smiled at each other. “Thinking what I’m thinking?”</p><p>“If you’re thinking about scaring the shit out of Sooyoung on her way out of the hall, then hell yeah.”</p><p>“I was thinking Yerim, but this is even better. <em>Nice</em>,” Baekhyun repeated, and stretched over the table to high-five Jongdae.</p><p>“One of these days Sooyoung will actually kill you,” Junmyeon remarked from the side, one eyebrow slightly raised. “And I won’t be trying to stop her.”</p><p>Baekhyun and Jongdae then broke out into an argument with Junmyeon, about how everything they ever did were harmless little jokes. Chanyeol was siding with them. Yixing was blissfully ignorant to everything as he kept eating ice cream. He shared a quick look with Kyungsoo when he saw how exasperated he seemed. They just blinked at each other in understanding, both shoving their spoons deep in the ice cream.</p><p>They were in the middle of discussing their school’s Halloween party, and how they were going to ditch that so they could meet at Baekhyun’s house and watch some movies, when Kyungsoo felt the vibration in his pocket. He felt a shiver up his spine when he pulled out his phone. <em>Mom</em>, flashing dangerously across the screen and completely and utterly draining the fun out of his evening.</p><p>In retrospect, he should have been paying attention to the time. It was nearing eleven. He sucked in a breath sharply, as he straightened up.</p><p>“I gotta go,” he said, and successfully shut up even Chanyeol, who stopped speaking in the middle of his sentence and blinked at him with wide, surprised eyes.</p><p>“Already?!”</p><p>“Yeah, Soo, what the hell,” Baekhyun asked, but his voice was a little softer than usual. “I thought you were gonna watch the movie with us.”</p><p>“Maybe next time,” Kyungsoo said, reaching out to pick up his bag. His smile was a little strained.</p><p>“You always say that,” Chanyeol mumbled, his frown barely disguised behind a nonchalant scoff.</p><p>“You said your mom was cool with you hanging out until later this year,” Jongdae said and his eyes were sharp when Kyungsoo turned to look at him desperately.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he sighed out, throwing the bag over his shoulder. “You know how she is.”</p><p>“<em>Boo</em>,” Baekhyun stuck his tongue out at him like a child, before proceeding to grab the cherry that was sinking into the melting ice cream sundae. He raised an eyebrow at him, no malice or anger traceable on his face where a somewhat dejected, but kind smile danced on his lips. “I hope you have nightmares. Really. I hope you have a really, really shitty evening.”</p><p>Kyungsoo just chuckled lightly, hand meeting Yixing’s in mid-air to half-shake, half-fist bump it.</p><p>“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” he turned around, fingers tight around the strap of his backpack.</p><p>“<em>Really</em> shitty,” Baekhyun’s voice was loud behind him, a whining and teasing undertone audible in his tone. “I hope Meokmul eats your homework!”</p><p>“And I hope Sooyoung kills you!”</p><p>“Asshole!”</p><p>Kyungsoo shook his head when another chuckle escaped his lips.</p><p>When he stepped out of the crowded arena and back on the empty street, the cold air making his skin crawl and the distant rustling of falling leaves filling the night’s quiet, his smile melted away, washed away by the breeze and the sudden quiet.</p><p>He heaved a deep sigh, fingers tightening around the strap.</p><p>And then he headed back home.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo tried not to be too dejected when he was put in a group with Baekhyun and Jongdae for the science midterm project. He tried to remind himself that it was going to be fun working with two of his best friends – it was Baekhyun and Jongdae, after all! Working together was going to be entertaining, it wouldn’t feel like a drag.</p><p>Then again, the rational part in his mind reminded, it was <em>Baekhyun</em> and <em>Jongdae</em>. Which meant he’d probably end up doing ninety percent of the project all by himself. He breathed out a sigh. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.</p><p>Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad at all, he thought, when Baekhyun and Jongdae approached him during lunch break, bags hastily thrown over their shoulders.</p><p>“We need five dirt samples, right?” Jongdae seemed bored when he spoke, and Kyungsoo blinked in surprise. “I’ll get one from my backyard, my mom’s buying some special fertilizer for her pansies anyways.”</p><p>“Cool, great,” Kyungsoo nodded. “We can get some from the park too.”</p><p>“We should drive up to the forest,” Baekhyun intercepted, and there was urgency in his voice. Like he was impatient, and this was the last thing he wanted to discuss. “The teacher said there’s different types of dirt there, right? So we should just go, collect what we need, and then figure out the rest of the project over pizza in my house. Cool?”</p><p>“I’m down. Kyungsoo?”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyes shot from Baekhyun to Jongdae, and then back again. His friend only raised one eyebrow.</p><p>“Yeah, sure,” he ended up uttering, still slightly surprised that those two of all people were initiating the group work on a science project. “When do you want to go?”</p><p>“We can go after school today,” Baekhyun shrugged, a little smirk tugging on his lip as he dangled his keychain between his fingers. “I have the truck anyways.”</p><p>Jongdae’s shrug was nonchalant, and Kyungsoo supposed it was up to him. His fingers tightened around his bag, and eventually, he nodded.</p><p>“Alright. After school, then.”</p><p>Baekhyun shone him yet another smirk, and Jongdae’s eyes were shining, and Kyungsoo just knitted his eyebrows, as he watched them walk away together. How weird.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The drive out of the familiar little streets of their town was soothing, somehow.</p><p>With the loud rumble of Baekhyun’s old pickup truck, and the distant howling of the wind, Kyungsoo found himself closing his eyes and enjoying the loud chatter in the car and the faint music playing from the radio.</p><p>“Did you get the containers?” he asked, almost too groggy to open his eyes. Jongdae blinked at him, a smirk stretching on his face. He looked like a cat.</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>“I’m surprised you two just didn’t bribe Junmyeon into giving you his worksheet from last year,” Kyungsoo mumbled, and Jongdae’s smirk grew wider, as he tapped Baekhyun’s shoulder.</p><p>“That’s actually not a bad idea.”</p><p>“Forget it!” Kyungsoo straightened in the seat, throwing a look out the windows.</p><p>They had been driving for a good fifteen or twenty minutes, up the hills and deeper into the woods. He narrowed his eyebrows when Baekhyun got off the main road, the empty branches of the trees above them rising high into the air, intimidating and old.</p><p>“I think we’re already far enough,” Kyungsoo noted, as he looked up. He could barely see the afternoon sky anymore; the branches were getting in the way.</p><p>A smile was dancing on Baekhyun’s lips, as he pressed the pedal and the car rumbled down the narrow mountain road.</p><p>Kyungsoo found himself holding on to the seat, fingers digging into the padding and eyes slowly becoming bigger. When the light peeked through the thinning branches again and the other hills came into view, he found himself breathing heavily, throwing a furious glance towards Jongdae.</p><p>His friend’s smirk only confirmed his thoughts.</p><p>“<em>What</em> are you doing?!”</p><p>“Oh, come on. It’s gonna be fun!”</p><p>“Baekhyun, <em>stop the car</em>.”</p><p>But Baekhyun didn’t stop the car.</p><p>Not until they reached the end of the mountain road and the remnants of an ancient fence blocked their way. Not until there were no more trees around them. Not until there was nothing else in their way.</p><p>Nothing, except for the lonely and dark mansion sitting on top of the hill. Its windows were dark and dusty, broken. The wood was horribly burnt and aged, countless storms and winters leaving their harsh marks. It was dark, despite the sun still shining high up in the sky, the mansion in front of them was <em>dark</em> and lifeless. Abandoned. Forgotten.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s fingers were starting to hurt from how hard he was holding on to the seat, as he narrowed his eyes at Jongdae and Baekhyun. Both of them were looking at him with mischievous smiles, their eyes shining with excitement.</p><p><em>Yes</em>, Kyungsoo thought to himself. This just confirmed his theory that those two were, indeed, complete idiots.</p><p>He should have known from the second they suggested actually <em>doing schoolwork</em> that they were up to something.</p><p>“We should get out of here.”</p><p>“Don’t be ridiculous,” Baekhyun smiled carelessly as he opened his door and jumped out of the truck. Jongdae followed suit. Kyungsoo frowned when the redhead rounded the truck and opened the door at his side. His smile widened. “We just got here.”</p><p>Kyungsoo breathed out sharply as he pushed Baekhyun out of his way and jumped out of his seat. He threw a worried glance towards the abandoned mansion.</p><p>“What are you up to?”</p><p>“Nothing!” Baekhyun replied almost immediately, with the voice of someone who was being accused falsely. “I just want to explore a little. What’s so wrong with that?”</p><p>Kyungsoo had about a thousand and one reasons on the tip of his tongue, but Baekhyun was still shamelessly staring at him without a single worry in the world. Jongdae was standing on the side, looking just as blissfully ignorant.</p><p>“I’m not going in there,” Kyungsoo declared then, and Baekhyun seemed to have been waiting for that, because his smirk morphed into a teasing grin.</p><p>“Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you believe in the ghost stories, Soo.”</p><p>He had. When he was a kid. There were all sorts of stories going on around the town about this mansion. Stories about witches and ghosts, stories about voices in the night, stories about people disappearing. They had scared the crap out of him when he was little.</p><p>But once he grew, he realized those stories only surfaced in October, when the streets were covered in gold and the carved pumpkins were starting to fill people’s porches. Once he grew, he realized those stories were nothing but scary tales exchanged between children as Halloween approached. Nothing but that. Just stories.</p><p>“I don’t believe <em>shit</em>,” Kyungsoo crossed his arms in front of his chest, glaring at Baekhyun.</p><p>The redhead just raised one eyebrow.</p><p>“Is this because of your mom then?” he asked, an almost challenging note in his voice. “She tell you not to come here?”</p><p>Kyungsoo felt his jaw tightening at the silly question and at Baekhyun’s perfectly stoic expression. He ignored Jongdae’s eyes flicking between the two of them, his grip only tightening.</p><p>“It’s not because-…it’s not because of my mom,” he let out a sigh, trying to control his own voice. “I’d just rather not step in there.”</p><p>Baekhyun stared at him for a good five seconds, before his shoulders slumped down. He let out a dejected sigh, followed by a grimace in Kyungsoo’s direction.</p><p>“Chicken shit,” he muttered. “Stay here then. Whatever.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s words got stuck in his throat when Baekhyun reached out to tap Jongdae’s shoulder. Jongdae gave him one last look, somewhat compassionate and apologetic, before he turned around and the two of them started walking towards the mansion.</p><p>Kyungsoo let out a dumbfounded breath. He turned in his spot, looking back at the depths of the dark forest behind them. The wind was howling, messing up his hair, and carrying the sounds of nature around them. Kyungsoo almost shivered at the shadows moving in the dark, before he turned back to look at his friends. They were climbing up the hill towards the entrance of the creepy house that was peering over them with its black wood and sinister silence.</p><p>“<em>Shit</em>,” Kyungsoo let out the curse under his breath, fingers fidgeting with the strap of his backpack. He wanted to hit something, mostly himself, as he hurried after them. “Hey! Wait!”</p><p>Jongdae’s arm was stretched out in invitation, and he threw it over his shoulder as soon as he was close enough. Baekhyun’s smile was triumphant.</p><p>“Attaboy.”</p><p>Kyungsoo wanted to punch them both.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo had to squint when they entered the house. His eyes needed to adjust to the sudden darkness that swallowed them from all sides.</p><p>The air was stuffy – heavy and old. It made breathing seem a little hard at first, until Kyungsoo’s lungs got used to the almost moist surroundings.</p><p>“Cool,” Baekhyun’s whisper was quiet, but it was carried around with an echo. Kyungsoo turned to shoot a glare in his direction, only seeing the other boy confidently walking towards the middle of the massive hall.</p><p>Kyungsoo looked around then. Despite the darkness, despite the lack of natural light and fresh air, he could not dispute the fact that there was something incredibly majestic about this hall – its ceilings were high and the chandelier hanging in the middle, despite being broken and laced with spider webs, was big. Crystals were hanging from it, catching the little light that was streaming through the cracks in the broken windows and throwing sporadic flickering rays over the old walls with winded and peeling wallpaper.</p><p>There was a grand piano in one corner, one of its legs broken. It was tilted to the side, the keys all different shades of mellow white, grey and old yellow.</p><p>On the other side of the hall, there was a fireplace. There were ashes gathered in front of it, covering most of the floor, reaching the leather-bound couch. On the wall above the firepit were dark marks etched in burnt wood, the unmistakable traces of a fire’s wrath.</p><p>“Ew, gross!” Kyungsoo whipped his head just in time to see Jongdae’s hand shaking violently. He was standing next to the entire wall covered in bookshelves.  He had attempted to draw one of the books out and was now dealing with the spider webs that had latched on to his fingers. He grimaced as he finally dragged his palm over his knees, and Kyungsoo just rolled his eyes. <em>That</em> was gross.</p><p>Baekhyun moved across the room then, towards the dark fireplace, and his fingers dragged across the burnt wood. His eyes were shooting around, before he turned them to him and Jongdae.</p><p>“Do you think people actually come in here? Like, hunters from the forest when the storms hit, or the rangers?”</p><p>“I don’t think anybody in their right mind would come in here,” Kyungsoo whispered, afraid to speak any louder. It was creeping him out how every word travelled around them in delayed hushes, the echo crawling up the old walls and diffusing into the air. He set his jaw. “We should leave.”</p><p>“Why are you so scared?!” Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “This place is abandoned.”</p><p>Kyungsoo just tightened his jaw. Maybe that’s exactly what creeped him out the most. The deafening silence giving way to the howling autumn wind sneaking through the nooks and crannies of the house, wheezing and filling the house with distant noises. Or maybe the dark shadows creeping in the corners, the flickering lights from the chandelier’s crystals only igniting more movements in the old still.</p><p>“Let’s go,” he heard Jongdae saying then, and he was just about to nod approvingly at the little displayed sense of responsibility.</p><p>However, he felt a pang in his chest when Baekhyun and Jongdae walked towards the dark hallway of the house instead of the door. He felt the breath catching in his throat.</p><p>“You two are insane,” Kyungsoo declared with a huff, as he walked a few meters behind them.</p><p>“Maybe we are,” Baekhyun shrugged, his eyes glinting in the dark when he looked back towards him. “But no adventures started with quiet bookworms who stay at home and refuse to do anything fun.”</p><p>“First of all, this is not fun. Besides, I didn’t want to go on an adventure. You tricked me into it.”</p><p>“Did we physically drag you? We didn’t force you or anything.”</p><p>“No, you just lied to me,” Kyungsoo frowned as they walked past an old portrait. He felt like he was being watched, the darkness seeping into his skin and making chills crawl up his spine. “Can’t we just collect the samples and then go home? <em>Please</em>?”</p><p>“We will, jeez,” Jongdae’s laughter was cheerful but the way it resounded inside the narrow hallway made Kyungsoo frown even deeper. “What happened to the Kyungsoo who had the craziest and most amazing ideas?”</p><p><em>He almost died</em>, Kyungsoo thought to himself rather bitterly, his vision clouding with unwanted memories.</p><p>“Oh, this is sick! Check this out!”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyes shifted to look at Baekhyun. He was standing next to an old canopy bed, the curtains ripped and hanging loose. Jongdae was touching old dusty things left on a vanity in the other corner.</p><p>He rolled his eyes and turned away from his friends. They were acting like fools. Stupid, ignorant, idiotic fools.</p><p>He breathed out heavily, and his eyes fluttered open again. He looked around this new room. It seemed like a bedroom. He walked closer to the old closet, eyes inspecting the intricate details in the wood. Beautiful cravings forming hypnotizing patterns. Even the knobs were beautiful – elegant designs of steel – or maybe even silver? – complementing the wooden art of the doors.</p><p>He sighed, and his breath disturbed some of the dust that had gathered on the surface. It was a pity that this place had been abandoned like this. Neglected and forgotten. Some of these things, if taken care of properly by professionals, could cost thousands of dollars on antique auctions.</p><p>Which was a little odd, he thought, as his eyes drifted to the side and the old mirror. There were dark flecks on the surface, a certain tear and wear nesting itself with the years that had passed. The frame, however, was just as mesmerizing in detail as everything else around them. He reached out, almost touching the dusty gold.</p><p>It really was odd. That no one had yet raided this place and made a fortune out of it. Maybe because they lived in such a tiny town, maybe because people from the big cities didn’t care enough for the small distant and remote corners of the world like theirs to even pay them a visit and plumage everything that lay hidden. Really odd.</p><p>His hand dropped down, and he heaved yet another sigh.</p><p>“Okay, did you look around enough?” he tried his best to use as much poison in his voice to show just how annoyed he was. “Can we <em>go</em> now?”</p><p>He turned in his spot and he saw nothing.</p><p>Just an empty canopy bed with the curtains swaying lightly, an empty vanity with scattered items on the old wood, a hauntingly empty darkness in the corners.</p><p>He felt the breath leaving him and the anger filling him up at the same time.</p><p>“Are you <em>fucking</em> kidding me,” he mumbled under his breath, fingers tightening into fists. He marched towards the door, peering into the dark corridor. He set his jaw, hand gripping the old wood of the doorframe. “This is not funny!”</p><p>All he heard as a response was faint laughter carried on through the empty hallways from the distant corridors and the howling of the wind accompanying it.</p><p>He was going to beat those two up, he swore to himself, as more rage filled him up. He walked down the empty hallway, eyes squinting when he heard distant stomping through the empty mansion and the unmistakable chuckles of Baekhyun carried across the winding wood.</p><p>“I swear to God I will end your entire existence!” he raised his voice, just for good measure. He knew those two could hear him, at least judging by the increased volume of the eerie chuckles that followed suit.</p><p>He let out a dejected sigh as he heard the stomping of feet sounding more and more distant with every second. He was trying to find Baekhyun and Jongdae in order to kill them with his own two hands, but in the maze of a house, unknown and huge, he had no idea which way to go. All he could see were the dark and peeling wallpapers, the spiderwebs decorating every corner and every painting, and the flickers of dimming lights seeping in through the dusty windows.</p><p>He squinted through the dirty glass as he passed by yet another one, barely seeing the forest from all the dirt that had gathered on it through time. A frown pulled on his lips when he realized the sun was starting to set over the high treetops, the sky already painted with all shades of orange and the promise of dusk slowly descending over them.</p><p>They had to leave, because soon the forest roads would be too dark for Baekhyun’s pickup truck to navigate through them. Because soon his phone would start buzzing with incoming calls, and there was nothing he could do about it.</p><p>He breathed in deeply.</p><p>“I WILL WAIT FOR YOU AT THE CAR, FUCK YOU!”</p><p>His step was a little too harsh for when he stomped onto the staircase, he realized when the old, rotten wood made a cracking sound. His foot fell through the broken plank on the floor, and he lost his balance. He was falling, and in his attempt to stop himself from rolling down the stairs and smashing face-first into the gathered dust, he caught on the handrail for dear life.</p><p>But that wood, too, was old and rotten, and it gave under his weight.</p><p>And then he was falling, and falling.</p><p>Everything hurt. His back, after colliding with the floor. His wrist, after taking the hit. His head too, felt numb for a few moments.</p><p>He just lied still, with his eyes closed, trying not to choke on the dust that had come alive after his fall had so unceremoniously disturbed it. He let out a heavy breath, his chest constricting and his heart racing after the momentary horrors that had played out in front of his eyes.</p><p>Yes. He was <em>definitely</em> going to tear Baekhyun and Jongdae to pieces.</p><p>His eyes fluttered open then, and he groaned when he moved to sit up. His back was sore, and so was his elbow. He would probably have a nasty bruise tomorrow, if not worse.</p><p>His nose scrunched up when he realized just how filthy his clothes had gotten, all that dirt now sticking to him. He was just about to kick the wooden planks off himself, when a movement in the corner caught his attention.</p><p>He almost jumped out of his skin when he saw the man standing there, among the shadows but still very much visible because of the light coming in through the massive windows in yet another hall that he had accidentally discovered. Or, landed in. He was lounging casually against an old cabinet, and he was just looking at him. A seemingly bored scowl was etched on his full lips.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s arm was clutching at his heart, and he hadn’t even realized until now. He let out another breath harshly, eyes shooting around before landing on the man who was not moving an inch. For some reason, that really pissed him off.</p><p>“Do you mind helping me, or will you just stand there looking pretty?”</p><p>The man did move then. His head flinched and his eyes seemed to focus on him for a few mere seconds. Then they got wider and bigger, as he looked around. He threw a look over his shoulder, as if there was something else other than a wall behind him.</p><p>“Are you talking to me?” he asked then, and his voice was low and velvety.</p><p>“Do you <em>see</em> anybody else?!”</p><p>The man pushed himself off the cabinet, and Kyungsoo thought that he would actually come and help pull him up from underneath the planks and the broken wood. That stranger, however, just stood there straight, his eyes strangely sombre and jaw set tightly.</p><p>“Forget it,” Kyungsoo mumbled out quietly and kicked the planks off his feet. He winced when a pain shot through his side when he moved his arm. He stood up slowly on wobbly feet, forgetting about the dust and instead clutching on his side tightly. It hurt when he was trying to stand straight.</p><p>“What are you doing here?”</p><p>Kyungsoo forgot all about his rage for a moment to look back to the man with the white blouse and deep voice. He was looking at him, and Kyungsoo’s fingers tightened around his own arm. His eyes narrowed suspiciously.</p><p>“My friends dragged me here because they’re <em>fucking</em> stupid,” the moment he said that, the rage returned tenfold, as he threw a glare towards the ceiling. He hoped Baekhyun and Jongdae were saying their prayers right now. He then remembered the other person, the one standing in front of him, and he squinted at him again. “What are <em>you</em> doing here?”</p><p> The man didn’t reply straight away and Kyungsoo allowed himself to stare at him, assessing the situation. His white button-down blouse was wide and tucked into black straight trousers. His hair was pitch-back and unruly and his expression – well, he seemed a little shell-shocked still, and Kyungsoo could not really blame him. Maybe he didn’t really see strangers falling through old staircases every day.</p><p>“I live here,” he ended up saying, velvety voice cutting through the silence, and Kyungsoo blinked, waking up from his daze.</p><p>
  <em>Wait, what?</em>
</p><p>“You live here?!” he could not stop himself from exclaiming suddenly, a tad louder than he had intended.</p><p>That was, on every level he could imagine, odd. To say the least. His eyes flickered around the dusty and dark room, the broken handrail, the scattered spiderwebs. Despite its impressive architecture, and despite the beautiful antiquities, his place looked like <em>shit</em>.</p><p>Then again, the mansion was huge, and he had been stuck in the same wing ever since they walked in. He hadn’t explored the rest of the house. But the possibility of another wing actually being inhabited by people was not low, considering the size of this place.</p><p>And Baekhyun and Jongdae were out there running around this place, completely unaware of that.</p><p>And then it hit him-</p><p>“Oh, <em>shit</em>! I’m so <em>sorry</em>,” he blurted out, eyes suddenly going wide at the realization. “We didn’t know there were people living here. I’m <em>so</em> sorry. We didn’t mean to trespass!”</p><p>The man in front of him was standing still, still looking entirely puzzled. There was, however, a slight raise to the corner of his lip when his mouth twitched in a shadow of a smirk.</p><p>“Don’t worry. It happens a lot.”</p><p>Kyungsoo could imagine that. What with all the spooky stories spread throughout the chain of small towns around, he could see other groups of idiotic teenagers going on adventurous quests to step into the haunted mansion. He suddenly felt like a piece of shit garbage, for actually barging into someone’s house uninvited, and <em>breaking their stairways</em>.</p><p>Then again, the stairways almost broke him, so he supposed they were even.</p><p>He flinched when he heard stomping from the floor above. Two pairs of feet, footsteps resounding in the hall. And then there was the unmistakable high-pitched voice of Jongdae screaming his throat out.</p><p>“Where did you go, Kyungsoo?!” Jongdae’s voice echoed through the old house. “Did Casper get his hands on you?”</p><p>Then followed a series of loud guffaws, and Kyungsoo’s eyes hurt a little from how hard he rolled them. He felt his lips pursing when his gaze directed back to the man in the white blouse, his smirk a little more prominent and entertained now and the booming sounds revibrating through the old walls.</p><p>“You’re welcome to come again anytime. We don’t get a lot of guests,” he said then, his velvety voice soft in comparison to his friends’ distant screeching. Kyungsoo blinked at the sudden invitation, eyes growing a little wider and mouth falling apart. He had to fight the urge within to scoff and let out a ‘<em>no shit’</em>. But Baekhyun’s booming voice reached them again, another demand and stupid joke about Kyungsoo playing hide and seek with a poltergeist. The man in the white blouse in front of him moved then, the smirk on his face twitching as he scowled a little at the hurried steps to be heard from another hallway. “Maybe without your buddies, though.”</p><p>“I’m <em>really</em> sorry,” Kyungsoo winced, momentarily forgetting about the pain in his side. He just felt bad, but the man’s eyes turned to look at him again then, and the annoyance faded away from his features, and was instead replaced by a ghost of a smile. His eyes seemed intrigued as he looked at him awkwardly stepping around the broken planks and scattered wood. “Uh, I can pay for that. I didn’t mean to- “</p><p>“Don’t worry about it,” the man said and Kyungsoo breathed out a sigh as he nodded slowly.</p><p>“Thank you, uh…” his eyebrows knitted together. “I never got your name?”</p><p>The stranger looked at him again, curiosity burning in his eyes and amusement lacing his lips as he tilted his head the slightest bit.</p><p>“Kim Jongin.”</p><p>“Well, thank you, Jongin,” Kyungsoo considered sticking his hand out for a handshake, but the pain shooting through his wrist stopped him from moving. He tried his best to not look too awkward as he forced himself to smile. “I’m Kyungsoo. It’s nice to meet you. And again, sorry for trespassing.”</p><p>“<em>Kyungsoo</em>,” the man in front of him repeated with his velvety voice, stance poised and straight, arms resting at the small of his back. He spoke his name out slowly, like he was testing it on his tongue, before vaguely nodding. “The pleasure’s all mine.”</p><p>He was trying to think of yet another question to ask, but the stomping sounds were sounding closer than ever and when he turned his head towards the dark hallway, he saw the shadows of his friends approaching. Baekhyun and Jongdae barged in then, and while there were hints of wicked smiles on their faces, there was also barely concealed shock and maybe even surprise in their eyes when they assessed the situation of Kyungsoo pathetically holding on to his side with the broken handrail on the floor next to him, along with the scattered planks of rotten steps.</p><p>“What the fuck happened to you,” Baekhyun asked first, walking closer to lean down and pick up Kyungsoo’s bag from where it had fallen on the ground. He threw it over his shoulder, eyebrows knitting together. “Who were you talking to?”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s head whipped to the corner, and the introduction words were at the tip of his tongue.</p><p>But the man with the white blouse was gone, and just like that, the words remained stuck in his throat, as he blinked in confusion at the empty hall with flickering shadows and dancing spiderwebs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Baekhyun tried to coax me into giving him my lab notes from last year,” Kyungsoo blinked up from his phone at the sound of the familiar voice. Junmyeon was looking down at him with a little smile, his beanie pulled low and scarf tied neatly around his neck. “Can I sit here?”</p><p>Kyungsoo took that as his cue to push his bag off the wooden bench and free up some space for his friend, who took the spot next to him with a little sigh and a compassionate glint in his eyes.</p><p>“They trying to back out of the project?”</p><p>“They’re not trying to back out of it,” Kyungsoo almost scoffed. “They’re just trying altogether to ignore it. They think if I get tired of waiting for them to submit their parts, I’ll do it for them.”</p><p>“You will, won’t you?”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyes shot up again sharply, but there was no mocking or taunt in Junmyeon’s eyes. Just complete and utter understanding.</p><p>“I need the grades,” Kyungsoo let out a sigh, his shoulders feeling heavy all of a sudden. “If I want to get into a good college and get the hell out of here, I need good grades, and if those two won’t do their part because they’re fucking lazy, then I’ll just do it myself.”</p><p>“Hm,” was Junmyeon’s entire input on the situation, as he reached down to fish a lunchbox out of his bag. Kyungsoo took those few moments to compose himself. “I got ham and cheese. You?”</p><p>“Tuna and mayo. Trade?”</p><p>“Hell yeah.”</p><p>They were mostly sitting in silence as they ate lunch together in the somewhat chilly backyard of the school. Those were the last few days of the year they could still enjoy out in the open without completely freezing to death. Besides, it did help to get away from all the noise and ruckus in the cafeteria.</p><p>“Did you know there’s people living in the haunted mansion?”</p><p>Kyungsoo didn’t know what compelled him to ask Junmyeon the question. But he supposed it was that unavoidable itch inside him he had been feeling ever since that dreadful afternoon last week – the need to tell someone. Someone who, unlike Baekhyun and Jongdae, wouldn’t jump to make fun of him straight away and make dumb ghost jokes.</p><p>Junmyeon looked up to him, seemingly confused.</p><p>“The haunted mansion?”</p><p>“You know, that old, old house up in the forest hills, just outside the town,” Kyungsoo vaguely waved his hand in the direction of the roads. Junmyeon’s eyes widened a little now, cheeks puffed out because of the sandwich he was chewing on.</p><p>“Oh, <em>that</em> place!”  he exclaimed, before his eyebrows narrowed. “There’s people living there? Huh…”</p><p>Kyungsoo stared at Junmyeon at the lack of a further comment, and he felt his own eyebrows raising a little.</p><p>“You don’t think that’s weird? I mean, that place is gruesome.”</p><p>“I guess it is,” Junmyeon shrugged. “But it’s also massive, you know. A part of it might still serve some purpose. It would be a pity if it didn’t.”</p><p>“I guess you’re right…”</p><p>Junmyeon shrugged again then, taking another big bite from his tuna and mayo sandwich. His eyebrows merely flinched a little when he threw him another curious look.</p><p>“How’d you know, anyways?”</p><p>Kyungsoo breathed out a dejected sigh, and quickly filled the other one in. From the very beginning, from Baekhyun’s and Jongdae’s utter betrayal, to the end where he had ended up with three bandages on his knuckles and a nasty bruise on his ribs. It still hurt. By the end of his little monologue, Junmyeon’s mouth was hanging open, sandwich still not completely chewed.</p><p>“Goodness gracious,” his friend shook his head. “So goddamn awkward. At least the guy was nice about it.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Kyungsoo nodded, eyes losing focus as images of the man with the white blouse standing in front of him started playing out in his mind. Jongin. “He was.”</p><p>“You should get Baekhyun and Jongdae and all three of you should go apologize for trespassing. And bring some rice cakes,” Junmyeon sniffed, shoving the last of the sandwich in his mouth and pulling the scarf a little higher over his face. “It’s a bit weird though, my dad’s never mentioned anyone living there.”</p><p>Right. Kyungsoo blinked quickly towards Junmyeon. His dad was the mayor. Not that it had such a massive importance in a town as tiny as theirs, but Kyungsoo had forgotten about that.</p><p>Junmyeon just shrugged, leaning down to pick up his bag.</p><p>“Guess the lands belong to one of the other town territories,” he concluded, and he slapped his hand on Kyungsoo’s back. “Gotta go. I’ll see you later in PE!”</p><p>“Yeah,” Kyungsoo drawled, and Junmyeon was walking away already, and all he could think about were rice cakes and the stranger in the white blouse.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo was nervously holding on to the box in his hands, fingers fidgeting at its corner as he threw a worried look towards the dark mansion sitting on top of the hill.</p><p>Maybe it was stupid to come here again. Maybe it was even intrusive to an extent. But it was curiosity burning inside him, along with the nagging feeling that he had done something wrong.</p><p>Last time, he had completely snapped at this stranger, aside from breaking property. And now, a week and a half later, he still felt like an asshole about it. Hence, the rice cakes neatly sorted in a gift box and the tension building up in his throat as he started walking down the neglected path up the hill.</p><p>And maybe he was curious too. Of course, he would never admit that in front of Jongdae and Baekhyun, but maybe there was a part of him that did want to know more about this place, about the people living here. About that curious stranger, looking like a model with a hint of a shocked smile and soft brown eyes.</p><p>He had to clear his throat to make sure his voice wouldn’t break. He reached out hesitantly to knock on the old and hollow wood of the aged doors – the same doors they had walked past last time. Surely enough, it was not locked, and when his knuckles touched the wood, the door swung lightly with the wind. A loud creak resounded as it moved in its weathered hinges, and Kyungsoo just stepped back.</p><p>He threw a curious glance to one side of the mansion, then to the other. There had to be another entrance to this place. Maybe on the other side of the hill? Maybe in one of those further wings where he hadn’t been able to follow Baekhyun and Jongdae.</p><p>The truth was, he felt like a fool. He had no idea just how big this place was, and he had no idea which direction to head. He settled for knocking on the old door again, knuckles colliding with the wood and echoing through the empty, dark halls.</p><p>“Hello?”  he called, and his voice, too, travelled around with a delay, jumping off the walls and sneaking through the creaks and crannies of the old house. “Anybody home?”</p><p>There was no reply, so he pushed the door wider open with one hand, eyes shooting around the empty hall he had been admiring last time. The wooden floor creaked under his footsteps as he allowed himself to enter the house, fingers tightening around the box. Again, he cleared his throat.</p><p>“Jongin?”</p><p>He almost let out a scoff at how ridiculous he felt. Walking, willingly, by himself into that old mansion again. His sides ached still, as if a reminder that he was a dumbass.</p><p>He startled when the lights shifted then. The little specks of light in the room becoming larger, and a sound revibrating through the walls. He whipped his head in the direction of the source, and his breath got caught in his throat.</p><p>The man was standing there, at the top of the staircase, arm sliding off the old dusty curtains that he had just pulled, letting more of the mellow sunlight flow into those old, forgotten halls.</p><p>“I thought I heard something,” he remarked, and his honey-like voice travelled all the way down to where Kyungsoo was still standing. Jongin stepped down then, the light behind him like a halo for a few moments, as he descended down the staircase. “You came again.”</p><p>Kyungsoo had to force himself out of his frozen state of admiration as Jongin walked towards him. The closer he got, the better Kyungsoo could see the pitch-black hair and the chocolate eyes. He could see the sliver of golden skin peeking underneath the top few open buttons of his flowing white shirt.</p><p>“Uh, yeah,” he managed to let out a sound, stepping from one leg to another. His lips gave way to an unflattering chuckle laced with nerves and unease. “Yeah, I-…I did.”</p><p>Jongin, now standing firm just in front of him, moved his arms to place them behind his back. He was the image of elegance and poise when he bowed his head just the tiniest bit.</p><p>A little smile pulled on his lips, and his eyes were shining, and Kyungsoo almost cursed out loud at how charming he looked like this.</p><p>“I’m very glad that you did,” Jongin said smoothly, no trace of nervousness in his voice or demeanour. He raised his eyebrows a little then. “What brings you back here?”</p><p>Kyungsoo shifted in his spot again, feeling rather nauseous all of a sudden with the other man standing so close to him, two clear eyes staring right into the depths of his soul and waiting for an answer.</p><p>“I wanted to apologize,” he blurted out eventually, eyes shooting anywhere but at Jongin. “For trespassing with my friends. We really had no idea someone lived here. And for snapping at you back then. I was kind of rude.”</p><p>“You did fall from a staircase, so I think you had plenty of reasons to be upset,” Jongin said, and there was a definite tone to his voice. When Kyungsoo dared look up to him, he saw a faint smile stretching into a playful smirk, as the man raised his eyebrows. “Only that?”</p><p><em>Shit</em>, Kyungsoo froze in his spot, and the package in his hands suddenly felt twice heavier than it really was.</p><p>“Uh, rice cakes,” he ended up mumbling out, and awkwardly lifting the box. Jongin’s eyes curiously traced down, and he cocked his head a little, arms still firmly planted behind his back in a stance of poise and elegance. “I brought you some rice cakes. For, you know, uh….a welcome? To town, I guess?...Although you might have lived here for a long time now, I have no idea, but since we just found out, well, I figured-“</p><p>Kyungsoo cleared his throat to stop himself from ranting on and on aimlessly. He was pretty sure blood was rushing to his face and painting his neck in the most alarming and traitorous shade of red embarrassment.</p><p>“Anyways. Just brought you some rice cakes.”</p><p>He stood like this for a few moments, arms stretched out with the dangling box in his fingers, waiting for Jongin to pick it up.</p><p>But he did not. Not after one second. Not after two, three, four. Kyungsoo blinked and slowly moved his head to look at the man standing in front of him. He had not moved an inch, but was still looking at him with burning curiosity in his eyes. His smile was faint, somewhat distant.</p><p>“Thank you,” he said and his voice echoed around them in the empty halls. “That’s most kind of you.”</p><p>And yet, he did not move to take it. Maybe he didn’t even like rice cakes. Maybe he really didn’t want a stranger’s gifts. He was about to lower the box and mumble out a quick excuse to leave as fast as he could and spare himself the unnecessary troubles, when Jongin finally – <em>finally</em> – moved.</p><p>He wove his hand gracefully towards an old, dusty table.</p><p>“You can leave that there,” he said, stance still straight and composed, like he was used to telling people what to do. Kyungsoo’s eyelids fluttered at the dancing lights on the walls as he dragged his feet two times to place the box on the table. His fingers slid off the package, and he was mustering up the voice to mumble out that excuse he had been working on for the past minute or so, but Jongin beat him to it. “I’d invite you in, but my family might not be too happy that I brought a guest without notice.”</p><p>There. An opening. Kyungsoo straightened up and pulled his allegedly friendly and nonchalant smile on. He was pretty sure he looked more pained and uncomfortable than friendly, but that was the best he could do at the moment.</p><p>“It’s totally fine, don’t worry about it,” he hurried to say with an awkward flail of his arms. “I just came by to apologize. I should get going anyways-“</p><p>“Don’t.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyelids fluttered as he looked up to Jongin and his sudden interjection, a little louder than his usually composed and quiet words. His eyebrows were raised, his eyes were a little wider. His lips were parted for a moment, before he composed himself and took control of his expression. Features moulded back into a perfectly calm façade, lips came together in a gentle smile.</p><p>“Don’t leave yet. We can go outside and take a walk around the gardens?” he suggested, voice almost too hopeful. Then, he smiled a little wider and Kyungsoo had to try hard not to gasp at the beauty of that smile. “You see, we don’t get much company up here in the mountains. It’s nice to meet someone new.”</p><p>Kyungsoo threw a look out the dusty windows. It was still bright outside, he still had plenty of time until curfew.</p><p>Given, he had homework to finish and a project to work on, and his mom and friends would probably chew him out later with questions about where he had been. But, Jongin’s smile was rather hopeful, and his eyes were shining again, and Kyungsoo felt himself already giving up at just the sight of the other man.</p><p>“I guess,” he said rather quietly, absolutely not caring about any inquisitions he’d have to go through later, as long as he got to spend some time with this gorgeous human being. “Sure, why not?”</p><p>Jongin’s smile was rather dazzling as he shone it at him, and Kyungsoo felt his own lips twitching in response.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The so-called gardens weren’t really gardens, Kyungsoo concluded about three minutes into their walk outside. It was mostly just the massive grounds of the mansion around them, stretching all the way down to the fences hidden by the trees of the forest, or going all the way down the valley until the little river cutting their way and flowing through the little towns.</p><p>He didn’t mind, though. He was a little chilly in his jacket, but walking helped a little. That, and he absolutely did not mind walking next to Jongin leisurely and hearing him speak in that soothing, honey-like voice.</p><p>He would throw a look towards the man every now and then, and he’s wonder how he was not freezing in the late October days in merely a flowing white blouse. His skin was glowing under the sun, a beautiful shade of bronze. He was almost shining, and Kyungsoo’s breath would get caught every time he looked at him for a few moments longer than appropriate.</p><p>“So you live down in the town?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Kyungsoo replied quickly.</p><p>“Which one? North or South?”</p><p>“South,” Kyungsoo shrugged. “At the base of the mountain. Just before the highway to the city.”</p><p>Jongin hummed in response, and his lips were pursed for a few moments. Then, he broke out into a small smile and looked down towards him.</p><p>“It’s been a very, very long time since I last visited. I remember they had really good hotteok there.”</p><p>“Park’s franchise?” Kyungsoo blinked, his friend’s family bakery immediately springing to mind. “Yeah, they got really good ones. They expanded to other towns now too!”</p><p>Jongin only hummed again, and Kyungsoo cleared his throat and looked away.</p><p>“So, you’ve lived here for a while now?” he dared ask, fingers digging into his own palms as they continued to aimlessly walk through the wilting grass fields. “Since you’ve been to the Park bakery, I mean…”</p><p>“You could say that,” Jongin said. “My family’s lived here for decades. Some go, but eventually everybody ends up coming back.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyes flickered up to the mansion. It didn’t really look like a place where people consistently had been living for decades. His eyebrows knitted together, the questions all gathering at the tip of his tongue.</p><p>“But then some things happened,” Jongin beat him to it, and his voice was a little sombre now. “Some….falling outs, if you will. And, well…”</p><p>He gestured towards the waning house, and Kyungsoo looked at him instead, at his set jaw and darker eyes.</p><p>“Then the fire happened. Place hasn’t been exactly the same ever since.”</p><p>It was Kyungsoo’s turn to hum quietly. He had nothing to say. He had a lot of questions burning inside him, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to spill them all out. He barely knew Jongin, he really just knew his name and where he lived. It wouldn’t be appropriate to pry into his life, especially when he had been so vague about it.</p><p>“Anyways,” Jongin said suddenly, and his voice was a lot more cheerful now, and his smile was wide and inviting again when he clapped his hands. “How old are you?”</p><p>“I’m eighteen,” Kyungsoo sniffed. “Almost nineteen.”</p><p>“Really? I’m eighteen too!” Jongin paused. Then his smile became wider. “Almost, anyways.”</p><p>Kyungsoo blinked quickly in surprise. He wouldn’t  have thought Jongin was younger than him. There was just something about his face, the look in his eyes and the way he moved himself – he seemed much more mature than Kyungsoo was.</p><p>“Wait,” he slowed down, throwing a confused look towards Jongin. “You’re still a student then? Which high school do you go to?”</p><p>There was surprise flashing through Jongin’s face like lightning – there for a second, gone with the wind. HE shrugged his wide shoulders, white blouse falling in ripples around him.</p><p>“I am home-schooled,” he said rather confidently, hands back at the little of his back, keeping him straight. Kyungsoo shot him a curious look, at the way Jongin’s eyes eyed the forest in front of him, before he slowed down in his pace too, eventually stopping altogether. His eyes, again, seemed a little distant as he spoke up again. “Let’s just say, my parents don’t really like me wandering too far away from the house.”</p><p>Something switched on in Kyungsoo’s brain instantly. Was it understanding? Compassion? Maybe a little pity?</p><p>He knew how Jongin felt all too well. He knew what it was like to not be able to escape your parents’ iron grip, he knew how suffocating it could be.</p><p>A silly thought crossed his mind for a flash of a moment, that him and Jongin did have something in common, even if it was something as unsatisfying as this. He almost laughed at himself for being stupid.</p><p>“Speaking of which,” Jongin shifted then, taking a few steps back towards him. “We should probably not go any further.”</p><p>Kyungsoo threw a look towards the forest, the wind blowing through the empty branches of the trees, carrying the sounds of nature with itself. The sky was becoming orange, hues of red and gold painting it intricately.</p><p>“It’s gonna be dark soon, the forest is probably not the best place to be at this time,” Jongin said as nonchalantly as he could, and Kyungsoo felt his heartrate picking up.</p><p>“I should probably leave soon then,” he ended up sighing in defeat. Jongin was right. It was going to be dark soon. Which meant a buzzing phone with countless calls and a rather long lecture at home which he did not look forward to.</p><p>“You should?” Jongin asked, and there was almost disappointment audible in his voice. For the first time since they’d met, Kyungsoo saw his shoulders slumping down a little. His lips pursed in compassion.</p><p>“My mom will get worried if I’m late,” he admitted quietly. If Jongin had been able to admit it, then so could he. His smile was a little bittersweet as he jugged his chin towards the gate in the distance. “Besides, I drove up here. The mountain roads aren’t well lit, it would be dangerous if it gets dark and I’m still on the way.”</p><p>“I see,” Jongin nodded, then he straightened up again, almost instantly. His smile was as charming as always. “Let me walk you to your car then!”</p><p>Kyungsoo was just about to assure him that it was alright, but Jongin had already started striding forward with long, confident steps. Kyungsoo had to awkwardly jog to catch up with him.</p><p>“Did you get that checked out?”  Jongin asked him when he heard him letting out a quiet hiss and clutching the side of his torso, right above his ribs where he still had an ugly bruise from his fall.</p><p>“Yeah,” Kyungsoo said, hand immediately falling. He tried to blink his embarrassment away, and failed. “Nothing broken, it’ll be fine soon.”</p><p>“Good.” Jongin was walking at a consistent pace now, a considerably slower one, as if taking into account that Kyungsoo was struggling beside him. “Why did you come here in the first place? You and your friends?”</p><p>Yep. No way to get rid of the embarrassment now for sure.</p><p>Kyungsoo felt like a deer caught in headlights at the sudden question, and he also felt the wave of shame washing over him as he threw a guilty look towards the boy next to him.</p><p>“Uh, see…in our town there are those….you know what, it’s ridiculous.”</p><p>“No, tell me,”  Jongin’s voice was soft and inviting, and Kyungsoo took a deep breath to console himself that he was going to inevitably sound like a moron. There goes nothing.</p><p>“People say that the mansion is haunted,” he blurted out, hoping that if he spoke fast Jongin wouldn’t quite catch that. “There are stories around town about voices and silhouettes and stuff. But it’s all really stupid, you know, it’s just because Halloween is coming up soon and….well, kids are looking for a thrill.”</p><p>Jongin was silent for a few moments, and Kyungsoo let out a dejected sigh. There went his efforts.</p><p>“You were looking for a thrill too?”</p><p>“Absolutely not,”  Kyungsoo scoffed. He tried to put on his best innocent face, a martyr expression as he flailed his arms again. “I was tricked into it. They told me we were getting samples for our science project. Next thing I knew, we were here.”</p><p>“I see,”  there was a little, entertained smirk on Jongin’s lips as he looked back towards him. His blouse was flowing around him, and with the setting sun throwing its golden shade on Jongin’s skin, he looked sort of ethereal. “So you’re not afraid of ghosts?”</p><p>“I-…that’s not what I said,” Kyungsoo let out a breath sharply. Jongin was still looking at him with raised eyebrows and a little smirk, and Kyungsoo had to gather the scattered pieces of his brain to form a coherent reply. He breathed in, and the smile came naturally to his lips this time around. “I’ll tell you after I meet one.”</p><p>Jongin let out a quiet laugh then, a low chuckle, and Kyungsoo could stop and listen to that sound forever because <em>God</em>, was it beautiful.</p><p>“You’re funny,” he ended up saying, and he did seem genuinely entertained, which to Kyungsoo was a little odd because, according to Baekhyun, he had the humour of a brick wall.</p><p>He just nodded his head awkwardly, not really trusting himself to speak. He was pretty sure his face was becoming red again.</p><p>It was almost unbearably unfair how fast they reached the gate. Kyungsoo almost wanted to whine and take another stroll around the fence if it meant more time to speak to Jongin. Alas, they were here, and the sun was getting dangerously close to the horizon.</p><p>“Will you come again?”</p><p>Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw Jongin standing just beside the fence by the gate, watching him step out and draw out his car keys.</p><p>His fingers tightened around them, and he looked at the man who was still staring at him with a rather gentle expression, a hopeful glint shining through in his eyes.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyes then flickered to the dark mansion. Tall and brooding above them, like a dark shadow.</p><p>And he felt a pang in his chest. So far away from the towns. Home-schooled. Kept at bay by his parents.</p><p>It was easy to imagine that Jongin might have, at times, felt lonely up here.</p><p>“Yes,” he said, and he had never felt more confidence in anything he had ever said before. God knows what would have happened to him if he didn’t have Baekhyun and Jongdae, Yixing and Junmyeon and Chanyeol. IF he didn’t have his friends by his side. He knew just how much he depended on them, how much he needed them. And he sure as hell knew he wasn’t going to deprive Jongin of that. “If you want me to.”</p><p>A smile slowly stretched on Jongin’s lips, and it was gentle and soft, unlike the harsh winds blowing past them. Kyungsoo pulled the jacket closer around himself and watched as Jongin simply stood still, the blouse flowing around him. His smile remained beautiful on his lips, as something shone in his dark eyes.</p><p>“I would love that.”</p><p>Kyungsoo was trapped in the serenity of the moment, of Jongin smiling at him and looking at him from afar, at the wind carrying the sounds of the forest, the gate creaking loudly.</p><p>And then he snapped out of it.</p><p>He dangled the keys in his fingers, and he smiled.</p><p>“I’ll bring you Park’s hotteok next time then,” he made a solemn promise, and Jongin’s smile became smaller, even softer than before.</p><p>“I’ll be waiting.”</p><p>Kyungsoo wove his hand a little awkwardly, the keys in his fingers clinking together and adding to the symphony of noises surrounding them.</p><p>And then he was in his car, and the engine’s rumble drowned out everything else, a white noise filling his mind as he threw one last look towards the mansion and the gate.</p><p>Jongin was still standing there, still looking at him with that same little smile. He raised his hand then, to wave at him, the wind blowing in his hair and face.</p><p>Kyungsoo had to bite down on his lower lip to stop himself from grinning too wide.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Where were you?!”</p><p>The demanding voice was loud and piercing, and the first thing that greeted him when he stepped into his home.</p><p>His mother was at the end of the hallway, hands on her hips, and fire in her eyes as she glared him down. The sigh was already building up in his chest, as he kicked his shoes off.</p><p>“How many times do I have to tell you to call me if you’re going to do something after school ends?!” his mother continued, voice still as piercing and unforgiving, and Kyungsoo felt his eyelids fluttering. Same old lecture.</p><p>“It’s not even eight yet,” he sighed.</p><p>“You were supposed to be home four hours ago! I didn’t know where you were,” her stance became even more solid as her lips pursed disapprovingly. “Were you out again with those troublemakers?!”</p><p>“Those troublemakers have names,” Kyungsoo tried hard not to hiss in his annoyance. “And no, I wasn’t with Baekhyun and Jongdae.”</p><p>“Then where were you?!”</p><p>“Jesus, mom!” the volume of his voice also rose higher along with his eyebrows as he threw the woman an incredulous and vaguely annoyed glance. “I was just outside. What does it matter? I’m here now.”</p><p>“What does it matter? <em>What does it matter</em>?!” Kyungsoo closed his eyes in defeat as his mother’s voice pierced right through him. “You have me worried sick and then you raise your tone at me?!”</p><p>Kyungsoo let out the breath he was holding in slowly. As slowly as he could, trying to rid himself of all the curse words and all the complaints that were bubbling inside of him.</p><p>“Look, I’m home, alright?”  he said, slow and steady, like he was approaching a wild animal. “I’m home, and I’m fine. Can I <em>please</em> go up to my room?”</p><p>He remained silent as he watched the expressions shifting on his mother’s face. Rage, then acceptance. Then something he couldn’t quite identify. He could see the muscles in her jawline playing, before something soothed over her face at final last, and she let out a sharp breath.</p><p>“Go wash your hands and change, dinner’s ready.”</p><p>Then, as suddenly as she had appeared to scream at him, she disappeared back into the kitchen, where Kyungsoo could hear the microwave’s timer coming to life.</p><p>He hurried up the stairs, his shoulders never having felt heavier in his entire life. He fought hard with himself to not slam the door shut behind himself as he entered his room, because that would just cause another unnecessary argument.</p><p>Instead, he threw his backpack towards the corner of the room with malice in his rage, and then dove face-first into his bed.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo couldn’t wait for his AP math class to end on Friday. He kept tapping on his notebook distractedly, not really paying attention to the equations on the black board.</p><p>As soon as the bell rang, he threw all his stuff inside his bag, dodging Baekhyun when he tried to approach him. He ignored the affronted yell behind himself and beelined straight for his car in the parking lot of the school.</p><p>He didn’t forget to stop by the bakery and buy two hotteoks. They were still steaming as he put them carefully in the passenger seat in their package and hit the pedal again.</p><p>The drive up the mountain to the gates of the mansion took roughly twenty minutes. Maybe a little less because he was rather excited to go there. He might have went over the speed limit a few times. In his defence, the mountain roads were empty. They always were.</p><p>His steps, unlike last time, were rather confident at he hurried up the hill, towards the looming dark mansion. The hotteoks were still hot, and his heart was beating a little faster behind his ribs.</p><p>Kyungsoo took a deep breath and was just about to reach forward and knock the antique looking brass knocker. Call out Jongin’s name again, rely on the echoes to reach him.</p><p>But the door opened before he even touched it, swinging back suddenly. He almost lost his balance in his sudden shock, swinging back to stop himself from falling on the man standing in front of him.</p><p>Jongin was almost twinkling, that’s how beautiful he looked. His black hair was falling over his eyes, soft and fluffy. His blouse was a pristine white, and his skin was golden. Kyungsoo almost sighed as his eyes travelled up to the smile stretching those full lips.</p><p>“I heard your car,” Jongin said then, jugging his chin towards the gates vaguely, and Kyungsoo shut his mouth, realizing that his jaw had been hanging slack for a few embarrassing moments.</p><p>“Oh, right,” he let out a chuckle. Jongin didn’t move, though. Instead, his eyes shot towards the green plains of land.</p><p>“Let’s walk around?” </p><p>Kyungsoo blinked in surprise, as his eyes shot around.</p><p>It was cold. Not too cold, but cold nonetheless. If he didn’t have the steaming hotteok in his hands and a scarf wrapped around his neck, he’d probably be suffering.</p><p>But Jongin? His eyes slid down to his attire – just the black pants and the white blouse, a thin thing that was flowing freely down from those strong shoulders.</p><p>“Won’t you be cold?”</p><p>Jongin looked down, as if to check what he was wearing. Then, he grinned at him.</p><p>A boyish smile, carefree and wild. Beautiful.</p><p>“I’ll be fine.”</p><p>“Are you-“</p><p>Before Kyungsoo could even reply, Jongin had already walked past him and out in the open. As if to prove his point, despite the howling wind, he smiled at him again.</p><p>Kyungsoo froze for a few seconds, before eventually shrugging.</p><p>“Alright,” he ended up saying, skipping down the few steps. “But if you get sick, don’t blame me.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t dare.”</p><p>Kyungsoo pulled the scarf tighter around himself, before standing beside Jongin. Their pace was slow as they started walking through the dead grass.</p><p>“How was school today?”</p><p>“It was a bit of a drag, really,” Kyungsoo sighed, the backpack with all his textbooks long forgotten in the backseat of his car. “I just wanted it to end so I could come visit you.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>Jongin’s smile was perfectly charming and enthusiastic. His eyes were shining when he asked that, just like a child’s, and Kyungsoo felt his heart melting.</p><p>“Yes,” he admitted quietly. Then, he raised the bag he was holding. “I brought you some hotteok.”</p><p>“Oh-“</p><p>“Well, I brought <em>us</em> some hotteok,” he corrected himself quickly with an eye roll. “There’s no way I go to Park’s bakery and not get something. It’s just, like, impossible.”</p><p>Jongin’s smile was smaller as he nodded.</p><p>“I, uh-…I just ate,” he said, and his voice sounded a little distracted. “You should eat. You’re probably hungry after the entire day at school.”</p><p>“It’s fine,” Kyungsoo smiled. “We can leave them for later.”</p><p>They were, once again, aimlessly walking, and Kyungsoo looked around the plains. On one side of the hill, there was the dark mansion. On the other, there was the dark forest.</p><p>Between them were the endless flats of wilting grass, all the way down to the river.</p><p>“What about you?” Kyungsoo asked then, turning to Jongin. “What did you do today?”</p><p>“Hm,” the other man hummed quietly, moving his hands behind his back. Kyungsoo watched him walk forward slowly. How he managed to carry himself so fluidly was beyond him. “Nothing important, really. I was just waiting for you to show up, I guess.”</p><p>“Wow,” Kyungsoo looked down, feeling his cheeks burn. He could feel the bolts in his brain malfunctioning for a few mere seconds, before he decided to laugh it off. He shook his head. “You really must have been bored, then.”</p><p>Jongin’s soft hair shifted with the strong gush of icy wind. His smile remained unchanged.</p><p>“Not at all.”</p><p><em>Wow</em>, Kyungsoo’s brain helpfully supplied again. He refused to look up to the other man as long as his face still felt this hot. No way.</p><p>Jongin asked him about the ride up the mountain then. Which route he took, and if it was hard. He asked him about his car.</p><p>By the time they reached the river, Jongin must have asked him at least twenty different questions about the weather and the mountain, and he must have asked him at least another ten about what the town looked like now, with all the golden leaves covering the grounds.</p><p>“Last time I was there was about this time of the year,” Jongin hummed thoughtfully, voice a little drowned out by the rumbling sounds of water crashing against stone. “It must have changed a lot since then.”</p><p>“I seriously doubt that,” Kyungsoo all but scoffed. In his almost nineteen years of life in the small town, the only thing that had changed was the colour of the library’s walls after the mayor had decided to get it re-painted a few years ago.</p><p>Jongin’s smile was a little faded now, like it wasn’t really reaching his eyes, as he nodded slowly.</p><p>“Shall we sit?”</p><p>Kyungsoo blinked when Jongin leaned back on a large stone by the river, tapping the space beside himself with an inviting look on his face.</p><p>Now, Kyungsoo wasn’t particularly thrilled by the idea of sitting on a cold stone in this weather, and he most certainly wasn’t confident that he could handle sitting so close to Jongin, but he ended up forgetting about all of that at the sight of the man’s little smile. His blouse was blowing with the wind, golden chest peeking underneath the deep slit at the front.</p><p>He sat down carefully, almost hissing at the chill seeping into his thighs as soon as he touched the cold stone.</p><p>“You said you have to go earlier today,” Jongin remarked then, eyes trained on the water furiously breaking into the stones on its way down the hills. “Why?”</p><p>Kyungsoo almost sighed in disappointment. He had half a mind to pull his phone out and cancel all plans, but he knew he couldn’t do that. Because if he did, and if his mom found out, he would get in trouble. Again.</p><p>“I promised my friends to go to the arcade with them later,” Kyungsoo shrugged. “It’s kind of like this thing we do every week. We play some games, eat some junk food, then they go watch a movie.”</p><p>“You don’t watch the movie with them?”</p><p>Kyungsoo cleared his throat, looking down at his fingers gripping the package with sweets.</p><p>“Not really.”</p><p>He was grateful that Jongin’s didn’t pry further on. The last thing he wanted to speak about was all that crap. Especially to someone who didn’t know him, someone who still wasn’t prejudiced. Who didn’t think he was weird or socially inept.</p><p>“Tell me about your friends,” Jongin said then, voice breaking him out of his daze with its soothing softness.</p><p>Kyungsoo straightened a little, leaning back on the stone, the heels of his feet firmly planted in the ground.</p><p>“They’re just like any other boys our age, I guess,” Kyungsoo shrugged, and only looked to the side when he heard Jongin’s small chuckle. The look in his eyes must have been as confused as he felt inside, because Jongin just ended up resting his chin on his palm elegantly, a smile dancing on his lips.</p><p>“It might have skipped your attention, but there aren’t a lot of other boys our age around here. Just me,” Jongin’s smile became smaller, and his eyes were curious as he cocked his head a little. Kyungsoo’s breath hitched. “Indulge me?”</p><p>
  <em>Of course. </em>
</p><p>Of course he would.</p><p>He needed a few seconds to gather his thoughts, and his breath. He inhaled sharply and suddenly, the air burning his lungs, as he worried his lower lip between his teeth for a few short moments.</p><p>“Well, first, there’s Baekhyun and Jongdae,” Kyungsoo started. “They’re the ones who dragged me up to uh…your home.”</p><p>“Ah,” Jongin’s lips trembled with an understanding smile.</p><p>“They are a little…wild. Let’s put it that way. They are always….out and about. They don’t necessarily like rules or following them,” Kyungsoo shook his head but there was fondness in his chest as he kept talking. “But I like them, you know. Sometimes you <em>need</em> people in your life who don’t abide by the rules. It makes it more fun, especially in a town as small as ours.”</p><p>Jongin’s nod was understanding and encouraging. His eyes were shining, soaking up every single word.</p><p>“Then there’s Junmyeon,” Kyungsoo sighed out. “He’s uh...pretty much the opposite. He’s usually quiet, and he studies most of the time. He has big dreams and plans for his future, so I get it. And then there’s Yixing. He’s also a dreamer. Not necessarily as devoted to studies and planning as Junmyeon, but he’s fun to be around.”</p><p>Jongin was humming quietly, indicating that he was still listening.</p><p>“And Chanyeol, too,” Kyungsoo let out a little laugh, finger poking at the package. “His family owns the hotteok place. He’s like….if you take all of the others and put them into one person, then that’s him. He’s a hot mess.”</p><p>“A….hot mess?”</p><p>Kyungsoo blinked and then laughed, mostly at himself. He’d never thought that he’d be in a situation like this. Describing his friends like this. It felt rather awkward.</p><p>“Yeah, like, he never really knows what’s going on but at the same time, he’s super aware of everything? I can’t really describe it,” Kyungsoo shook his head, a little harder this time. “Anyways, we’ve all known each other since we were kids. Everybody knows everybody in the town, so…”</p><p>He shrugged, and Jongin’s hum flowed with the wind.</p><p>Kyungsoo dared look at him again, at the somewhat distant expression in his eyes, before they focused on him and his smile came to life again.</p><p>And just like that, Kyungsoo’s brain clicked.</p><p>“Oh,” he straightened up. “You should totally join us if you want!”</p><p>Jongin, too, straightened up, the smile fading from his face slowly.</p><p>“Down at the arcade, I mean. It would be fun if you did,” Kyungsoo tried not to sound too eager. “The guys would like you, I’m sure, and you can get more hotteok. I guess.”</p><p>Jongin’s hair and blouse were the only two things about him that were moving. His expression was unreadable for a few very long instances, and Kyungsoo felt his heart falling. He knew a rejection even before hearing it.</p><p>But Jongin’s smile, when it bloomed on his face again, was kind and warm, unlike the deep look in his eyes.</p><p>“Maybe some other time,” Jongin said, voice light and composed.</p><p>A gush of wind blew past their faces, and Kyungsoo shivered. He buried his face into the scarf and his fingers curled into fists as the chill ran up his spine.</p><p>“You’re cold.”</p><p>It wasn’t really a question, it was an observation. Kyungsoo cracked an eye open to look at Jongin, who was sitting next to him in his thin blouse, completely unaffected. There was a crooked smile on his full lips, as he slowly stood up from the stone.</p><p>Kyungsoo followed suit, pulling his jacket tighter around himself.</p><p>“We can go sit in my car?”</p><p>Jongin threw a glance towards the fence, visible in the far distance. Then, his eyes travelled back to the car. There was a crease between his eyebrow for a flash of a moment, before his face relaxed again.</p><p>“No,” he ended up saying. “Let’s just go inside.”</p><p>“Your parents will be cool with that?”</p><p>Jongin’s face was back to an unreadable blank page, and Kyungsoo wondered what <em>his</em> stories were. What he had to say.</p><p>But Jongin only smiled it off quickly, a little mischievous smirk playing on his lips.</p><p>“Maybe they won’t know. It’s an <em>awfully</em> big house.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s breath hitched again as he looked up the dark mansion, like a dark shadow falling over the hills. His eyes took it all in, memories of the dark hallways, of the spiderwebs and old portraits. He felt shivers running up his spine, along with burning curiosity sparking inside his chest.</p><p>And as soon as that spark ignited, there was no stopping it. He turned to look at Jongin, and he nodded eagerly.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Junmyeon had been right. Not the entire mansion looked the exact same crippled way as the several halls by the front gate.</p><p>The wing Jongin was leading him through was different. The fire hadn’t reached those halls, the wood remaining a light brown, uncharred by the unforgiving flames that had engulfed the rest of the house.</p><p>The hallway was a little lighter than the ones in the other parts of the house, the sunlight was streaming in through windows that were not covered in ashes and dust, and Kyungsoo got to see the details of the wallpapers – albeit faded and old, it was beautiful. Every single detail, every single curve in the patterns, every single edge on the candle holders.</p><p>Kyungsoo was rather entranced as Jongin led him through the hallway rather silently. The only sounds were coming from the wooden floor creaking underneath their feet, and the distant echoes of the howling wind in the broken-up wing of the house.</p><p>“Here,” Jongin halted hesitantly in front of a rathe intricate door. He pushed it open slowly, eyes wandering as he let Kyungsoo enter before him.</p><p>The room was large – the ceilings rising high above them and the windows opening up to an inner garden with flowers just as wilted and dead as the grass on the grounds. The bed at the side was massive – carved wooden pillars and soft canopy falling from the sides. There was a desk in the remote corner, filled with papers and with little boxes.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyes lingered on the bed. At how perfectly the sheets were made, at how perfectly all the pillows were arranged. Then his gaze moved to the window, to the sunlight streaming inside this dark room, illuminating the old carpets and cabinets.</p><p>“It’s my room,” Jongin said quietly then, from somewhere behind him, and Kyungsoo nodded slowly.</p><p>He was still trying to take everything in before processing that one simple sentence. He tried not to focus on it too hard, that he was in Jongin’s room, practically a stranger. He tried not to let his face burn again.</p><p>Instead, he bit on the inside of his cheeks, eyes travelling around the room again.</p><p>It wasn’t dirty or anything. It wasn’t dusty like the entrance hall. No traces of ashes or licks of fire.</p><p>But it seemed <em>odd</em>. It seemed like a place no one had stepped in for ages. It didn’t really look like anybody lived here.</p><p>“It’s a little dusty,” Jongin said, and his voice was quiet. “I don’t really spend much time here, so…”</p><p>Kyungsoo realized now why the place seemed so odd. There didn’t seem to be anything personal about it.</p><p>His room was filled with posters and with scattered comic books. There were peeling stickers on his wardrobe, and a bunch of old photos on the cork board over his desk.</p><p>But this room? No.</p><p>It seemed like it had come out straight from a house catalogue in the 1800s.</p><p>“It’s really ni- <em>oh!</em>”</p><p>He hadn’t heard Jongin coming closer. He hadn’t heard a single wooden plank give way under his weight, he hadn’t sensed him coming closer.</p><p>But, apparently, he had, while Kyungsoo was marvelling at the closets and the patterns on the thin canopy.</p><p>Because when he turned to talk to him, he didn’t expect him to be right behind him. He didn’t expect to bump into him, forehead planting straight into Jongin’s chin. He was pretty sure he also stepped on his foot accidentally in his effort to scramble back as fast as he could.</p><p>He raised a hand up to rub on his forehead where they had collided, and heat started rising to his cheeks.</p><p>“Sorry!” he blurted out, voice sounding a little higher than usual.</p><p>But Jongin didn’t reply. When Kyungsoo’s eyes fluttered open again and he looked towards the man, he was standing there still, arm raised mid-way to his chin, and eyes blown wide in surprise. His lips were parted, and it seemed for a moment like he was struggling to breathe.</p><p>Then, his eyes focused on him and they only seemed to widen even further. His hand finally finished its journey to his chin, fingers gliding over his skin, as if confirming that they had, indeed, bumped into one another. He let out a sharp breath.</p><p>“No,” he said, and his voice was barely above a whisper. He seemed to be shaking slightly, but his eyes were unwavering. “No, it’s…it’s okay.”</p><p>His hand dropped then, and he was still shaking a little, and his eyes were still blown wide, and Kyungsoo wondered for a second why he looked so shocked.</p><p>“It’s okay,” Jongin repeated, but his voice was barely audible. Like he was mumbling to himself more than anything.</p><p>“Sorry,” Kyungsoo said again, for good measure, fingers dropping from his forehead. “I didn’t think you’d be standing there, I was surprised. Baekhyun always says I’m the most uncoordinated person he knows, and this just proves it then.”</p><p>Jongin remained silent, and Kyungsoo’s eyes traced the lines of his face with faint concern bubbling in his chest. Then, his gaze travelled down his arms, all the way to his fingers that were now curled into tight fists. His knuckles were turning white, and Kyungsoo felt his eyebrows knitting together.</p><p>“Are you alright?” he asked hesitantly. “Did I hurt you?”</p><p>Jongin did move then. He seemed to focus on his surroundings again, dragged out of whatever thoughts he had.</p><p>His eyes pinned on Kyungsoo again, and clarity filled them up as his eyebrows shot up for a moment. Then, a little, distracted smile stretching his pretty lips again.</p><p>“No,” he said quickly, and his voice was the same shade of mellow as before. “No, you didn’t. I’m sorry. You just surprised me there.”</p><p>Jongin let out a chuckle then, a soft sound that filled the room, before he clapped his hands together.</p><p>“Please, sit! Wherever you want, make yourself comfortable!”</p><p>Kyungsoo looked around the room one last time, his entire face burning as he forced himself to look away from the bed. He tried not to be too awkward as he pulled the chair out, wood scraping loudly against wood. He sat down slowly, only watching Jongin casually lean against one of the wooden pillars at the corner of the bed.</p><p>He still seemed a little shaken, if the curve of his lips and the slightly wider eyes were any indicators to go by, but he simply leaned against the bed, arms coming together in front of his chest.</p><p>“So what do you usually do at this arcade?”</p><p>“Oh, you know,” Kyungsoo shrugged. “We just play games. And we eat junk food, I told you.”</p><p>“Games?” Jongin echoed, eyebrows rising on his forehead for a split moment. “What games?”</p><p>Jongin’s questions about the games were endless. Every time Kyungsoo mentioned a new machine, he indulged him with different questions about it. He seemed bewildered at times, and so did Kyungsoo – despite his loyalty to the arcade, it was really the first time he had ever really spoken about it so much. It made him feel like a nerd.</p><p>He didn’t keep track of time. Talking to Jongin was easy – he was soaking up every word and his questions always opened up more and more directions for their discussions. It was an endless loop, and Kyungsoo had no desire whatsoever to try breaking free from it.</p><p>His friends, however, seemed to have different plans, because when he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, he couldn’t contain the annoyed sigh that built up in his chest.</p><p>“What’s that sound?” Jongin’s voice was sudden from where he was sitting on the bed, straightening a little at the vibrating sound. Kyungsoo’s annoyed sigh turned into a deflated chuckle.</p><p>“Sorry, that’s me,” he said in a rush, hurrying to pull out the phone. As expected, a long series of messages in their group chat, some rather colourful insults and some very demanding invitations and reminders for their get-together at their usual corner table in the arcade. “It’s my friends.”</p><p>His eyes quickly flashed through the messages, before eventually, his shoulders slumped. He left his phone on the desk, leaning down to fix his shoe and grab his jacket.</p><p>“I gotta go,” he reluctantly admitted. “I won’t hear the end of it if I skip.”</p><p>He raised the package with already undoubtedly cold hotteok, and left it on the desk. He threw Jongin a look and tried his best to seem as cheerful as he could when he smiled.</p><p>“I’m gonna stuff myself with a sundae in about half an hour, so you should have those later.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Jongin said, voice as sweet and soft as ever.</p><p>“Are you sure you can’t come?” Kyungsoo asked, something squeezing his insides painfully. Maybe regret that he had to leave again and that he couldn’t spend more time talking to Jongin. IT had been ages since he’d last had a conversation with someone without wanting to fall asleep in the middle of it.</p><p>Jongin completely disregarded his hopeful expression, and only lowered his head for a moment, re-emerging with a crooked little smirk.</p><p>“Maybe next time,” he said, and his eyes were pinned on Kyungsoo as he walked towards the door.</p><p>Then, he turned his head back to the desk. He was standing next to it in three long strides.</p><p>“Wait, your-….” He was staring down at Kyungsoo’s phone lying still on the surface. His eyes were unreadable for a few moments, and his lips were parted, as he moved his hand slowly, reaching out for the little device. He seemed hesitant before touching it, and outright scared when he slowly picked it up. That same expression of wonder took over his features almost instantly, the same unwavering shock filling his eyes as when he’d bumped into him earlier. “Don’t forget your phone.”</p><p>Kyungsoo blinked, breaking himself out of that one infinite moment he had been trapped in. He straightened as Jongin walked towards him, arm stretched out.</p><p>His eyes were pinned on his hand as he reached out to put the phone in his open palm. When his fingers grazed against his the slightest bit, Kyungsoo felt how cool they were. His skin was a little cold, but an amused smile was making its way to his lips.</p><p>He also felt electricity running through his body. A shock hitting him from the inside, and his skin catching on fire where Jongin’s cold fingers had brushed against his.</p><p>“Let me walk you out,” Jongin said, the smile of a perfect gentleman on his face as he held the door open for him.</p><p>Kyungsoo was dragging his feet a little, he didn’t really want to go.</p><p>Jongin, on the other hand, seemed rather energized. He kept throwing glances in his direction, eyes burning with something Kyungsoo couldn’t quite put his finger on.</p><p>“I hope you will enjoy your evening with your friends,” Jongin was saying just before they emerged back in the massive, ashy and dark hall.</p><p>“I’ll try.”</p><p>Kyungsoo was about to mumble out an awkward thanks and then maybe wave in a curt, uncoordinated motion, before hurrying out.</p><p>Jongin’s voice, however, interrupted him.</p><p>“Kyungsoo, wait,” he said, and before Kyungsoo knew it, the other boy had reached out to grab his hand. His fingers were colder than his, yes, and they were slender. Wrapped around his entire fist, as he pulled him a little closer. Kyungsoo’s breath hitched when Jongin brought their hands closer to his own chest, as if enacting a ritual for a promise.</p><p>There it was again, that absolute wonder, mixed with shock and amusement, swirling all together in Jongin’s eyes.</p><p>Kyungsoo didn’t necessarily understand it, but he liked it.</p><p>“You’ll come back again, right?”</p><p>Kyungsoo remembered to breathe then. He took a sharp breath, gaze sliding from Jongin’s sincere face down to where their fingers were moulding together, hands resting on Jongin’s chest.</p><p>“Of course,” he promised, eyelids fluttering before he looked back up to Jongin’s eyes. “Of course I will.”</p><p>Jongin’s smile was gentle. His grip on Kyungsoo’s hands loosened then, their arms dropping down slowly.</p><p>“I’ll be looking forward to that, then.”</p><p>Kyungsoo was about to say something else, but another loud and unforgiving buzz of his phone cut him off. His smile was apologetic and Jongin’s was understanding.</p><p>With one last wave, and a full heart, Kyungsoo turned around and started walking away.</p><p>His hand lingered on the old wood of the gate before he pushed it open, as he turned his head to catch one last glimpse of Jongin still standing there, under the dusty chandelier and smiling softly.</p><p>His eyes fell on the little table by the side then, just as he was about to step out of the house, and he saw a familiar box.</p><p>A familiar box that he had carried himself just a few days ago, still sealed tightly, still untouched.</p><p>He blinked his confusion away, before finally stepping back out into the cold and hurrying towards his car.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Where the hell were you,” Baekhyun’s shrill voice reached him first, despite the loud chatter of people and the loud sounds coming from the games around them. If Kyungsoo didn’t know any better, he’d have thought the other was actually concerned for a second, before a fist collided with his shoulder. “I sent you like five texts and called you twice!”</p><p>“Yeah, I saw. I was driving. Get off me.”</p><p>Kyungsoo had to shake the other boy off himself, before sinking down onto the couch right next to Yixing. Chanyeol grinned at him from across the table, too busy devouring a waffle to even care about the banter.</p><p>“Anyways, where did you disappear after school?” Jongdae eyed him suspiciously. “We were looking for you but your car was gone.”</p><p>Kyungsoo reached out to steal the cherry on top of the sundae his friends had ordered. It dangled between his fingertips for a few seconds, as he contemplated his options. He didn’t really have anything to lose, and maybe his friends would shut up if he gave them a valid answer, so he simply shrugged.</p><p>“I went to the mansion.”</p><p>He didn’t expect Chanyeol promptly choking on his waffle and silence falling over their table then. He looked up from the cherry he was holding, eyebrows raised on his forehead at the unexpected reaction.</p><p>“Sorry, the mansion?” Jongdae repeated, checking if he’d heard correct. He let out a breath. “The haunted mansion in the mountain?”</p><p>“Yep.”</p><p>“What were you doing there?!”</p><p>Kyungsoo ate his cherry quickly, shoulders slumping a little. He had expected his friends would just wave it off and continue with their stupid prank discussions or arguments about hi-scores. He hadn’t expected them to show an ounce of interest.</p><p>“I went to see the guy that lives there. We ate-“</p><p>“Ah here we go again,” Baekhyun groaned but his eyes were a little sharp as he shot a look towards him. “I told you a thousand times already, there was nobody in that house except for us! You probably hit your head or something when you fell down those stairs and imagined it!”</p><p>“You fell down the stairs? What?”</p><p>Kyungsoo ignored Yixing’s confused mumble, and tightened his jaw instead. He glared at Baekhyun.</p><p>“I’m not crazy, Baekhyun. I’ve been there twice already after you incels broke in,” Kyungsoo crossed his arms in front of his chest, a little satisfaction creeping inside his chest at Baekhyun and Jongdae’s surprised expressions. “I met him both times, and he’s actually really cool. We had hotteok together today, and I even asked him if he wanted to join.”</p><p>Baekhyun seemed to deflate a little at Kyungsoo’s rather stoic stance. He didn’t miss the way him and Jongdae shared a confused look, before eventually shrugging it off.</p><p>“Whatever. I’m gonna go play Galaga until the Mario Kart slots are empty.”</p><p>“Galaga?! What is this, the 80s?!”</p><p>Kyungsoo let out a quiet sigh of relief when his friends moved on to argue about the arcade games.</p><p>There was, still, one curious pair of eyes pinned on him instead of the book open on the table.</p><p>Kyungsoo decided to ignore Junmyeon, as he simply grabbed a spoon and headed straight for the chocolate-covered bits of the banana sundae.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It was becoming more and more of a routine. Classes ending, and him getting in his car and driving up all the way to the mansion. Then he’d meet Jongin, and they would sit in the dimly lit room and talk for hours.</p><p>Jongin was quiet. He wasn’t letting Kyungsoo in on much, but he was kind and he was welcoming. He was listening to him attentively, curiosity sparking in his eyes whenever Kyungsoo talked about his day. He was soaking up every single word, and Kyungsoo <em>enjoyed</em> that.</p><p>He enjoyed it so much, that more than once he let the darkness seep into the skyline along the tired shine of the last rays of sunshine. More than once, the skies were a blood orange, the last breath of colour in the day, when he’d get into his car and drive back down to the town.</p><p>He got in fights with his mom for being late again and again. She would scream at him, the same monologue he’d heart millions of times during the past two years, and he’d feel the frustration building up inside him, refusing to acknowledge the worry tugging on her features. Whenever he went home, he felt like he would explode.</p><p>And being at school was no better either. Between classes, assignments, projects and homework, he usually had his friends to rely on and make his days lighter. Now, however, there were judging glints in their eyes.</p><p>“Are you coming with us to the arcade tonight?” Jongdae had asked, multiple times.</p><p>“Nah, not today,” was his usual answer. “I have somewhere to go.”</p><p>He didn’t miss the concerned glances Baekhyun and Jongdae shared over the table. Both of them knew where he was going. Again. All of them knew. Even Junmyeon, who would try to cut into the conversation and break the tension with random facts or bits of news.</p><p>“Did you know that the mansion used to be a hospital back in the day?” he’d said one day during lunch break, and that had piqued Kyungsoo’s interest a little. “My dad told me it was supposedly one of the biggest ones in the district.”</p><p>And then the conversations would flow on, and everything would be forgotten until the next day.</p><p>Until, eventually, Junmyeon ran out of ideas to stop them from arguing. Until, eventually, Jongdae stopped asking him to go to the arcade, because he knew what the answer would be.</p><p>And that frustration, it was just building up by the minute.</p><p>And the moment he stepped out of his car on the windy hill, staring up at the willowing manor, it would diffuse.</p><p>Because he knew Jongin was waiting for him, with his attentive eyes and beautiful smile, and he knew that they could talk for hours, that someone would listen to him.</p><p>And that was enough.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They were at a new part of the mansion today.</p><p>The library was massive, books covering every wall, every table and desk. His eyes were taking it all in, wonder keeping his jaws slack.</p><p>“It’s a miracle it survived the fires,” Jongin hummed, fingers brushing against the leather bound books.</p><p>It really was a miracle, Kyungsoo agreed, as he walked forward and dragged his fingers along the dusty surface of the shelves. His eyes were still wide open, head turning to take everything in. There were probably thousands of books in this room.</p><p>If Junmyeon ever saw this he’d probably freak out.</p><p>And thinking of Junmyeon-</p><p>“My friend told me this place used to be a hospital,” Kyungsoo said vaguely, brushing the dust off his fingers as he turned towards Jongin. “Is this why you have such a massive library?”</p><p>Jongin seemed startled for a few long moments. His eyebrows betrayed him as they narrowed in shock, and his lips parted briefly.</p><p>As fast as that surprise had flashed through his face, it disappeared, and was instead replaced by the kind and welcoming smile Kyungsoo had gotten used to.</p><p>“That’s right. The whole-…medicine section is right over there,” he vaguely pointed towards one of the walls, and Kyungsoo nodded absentmindedly. He was still too busy looking around to really care. “Uh…how did your friend know?”</p><p>“Oh, his dad’s the mayor,” Kyungsoo shrugged, as he leaned against one of the tables and pulled the book that was resting on top of a pile. He blew on the cover, dust spreading in the air as he opened it slowly. The pages were almost yellow, aged and vulnerable, thin under his fingertips. “He was probably snooping around the town history archives or something.”</p><p>“I see.”</p><p>Kyungsoo looked up from the book at Jongin’s curt reply. His shoulders seemed a little tense, there was a little crease between his eyebrows. Lips were pursed, as he stared intently at the floor, as if trying to burn a hole through it with his gaze.</p><p>He shut the book and put it back on the table, cocking his head.</p><p>“What kind of hospital was it?”</p><p>Jongin seemed even more surprised at this question. Kyungsoo noted how his fingers twitched before he curled them into tight fists. The smile on his face was small, not letting Kyungsoo in on any of his real thoughts.</p><p>“I have no idea,” he said smoothly, with a light shrug, as he leaned back against the wall. The white stretch of fabric shifted with his movements, golden chest peeking underneath the shirt. Kyungsoo had to blink away towards the books again. “But, uh, that’s where the fires started actually.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Yeah, that entire wing is pretty much destroyed,” Jongin said, and he seemed less tense now, as he shrugged again and shone him a more natural smile. “Not a very efficient hospital, is it?”</p><p>Kyungsoo let out a breath in a semblance of a chuckle.</p><p>Then, he hopped off the table and smiled.</p><p>“Can we go see it?”</p><p>Jongin’s smile faded again then, rather slowly, and the crease between his eyebrows deepened. He looked like what Baekhyun looked like during their biology pop-quizzes. Confused, and rather distraught.</p><p>He blinked towards him then, as if assessing his face and level of sanity.</p><p>“You really wanna go?”</p><p>Kyungsoo just smiled again.</p><p>Jongin sighed then, and his smile played on his full lips yet again.</p><p>“I guess we can do that.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s smile only widened, as he hopped forward and slid his arm underneath Jongin’s elbow, pulling him forward towards the door. Jongin, again, seemed rather surprised, but walked alongside him nonetheless.</p><p>After his initial shock, he angled his elbow, holding his arm up as support for Kyungsoo to lean on. He was looking at him curiously, his smile completely faded as nothing but wonder was visible on his face.</p><p>Kyungsoo took that as his cue to look down towards their toes as they walked through the dark hallways. He tried to not get too swept up in the moment, to not think too much about how he was practically linking arms with this fine piece of human, touching him and standing so close. His cheeks were burning as he tried to keep his smile under control.</p><p> The more they walked through the hallways, the darker they became, and Kyungsoo recognized those same decorations he had seen the first time he’d entered the mansion with Baekhyun and Jongdae. The dark hallways with dust and ash covering the floors.</p><p>The more they walked, the more Kyungsoo could see the unforgiving traces of flames licking wood. Charred black covering everything around them. His breath caught in his throat as he looked at a gate that must have once been impressive and heavy. Now, it was just eaten apart by the fire, swaying back and forth with every gush of the wind streaming in from the broken windows.</p><p>After that gate, Kyungsoo saw the tiles. What must have once been white was now dirty with black, broken and cracked.</p><p>“I don’t like hospitals,” he admitted after a few steps, clutching Jongin’s arm a little tighter.</p><p>He felt the other one vibrating lightly against him when he laughed.</p><p>“Yet you wanted to see this.”</p><p>“Hey. In my defence, this one is not operational.” Kyungsoo decided to leave out the part that that actually made it creepier in every way possible, especially after seeing the broken glass shards of containers lining the floors.</p><p>His breath hitched at the sight of a broken lamp, one of those round ones they had in surgery rooms. Except, this one was looking rather ancient, with broken bulbs and spiderwebs hanging from it like Christmas decorations. Beneath it, there was another broken bed, covered in dust, with burnt leather restraints. Broken equipment and burnt leather. That’s all he kept seeing around.</p><p>With every single step, his eyebrows narrowed further, and he felt his breath catching in his throat every now and then. It felt harder breathing, and he didn’t know if it was because of the smell of old air, or because the dark shadows were dancing in the corners, making this place seem even more frightening than it already was.</p><p>“When did you say this place was a hospital?”</p><p>Jongin kept silent for a few moments, and Kyungsoo turned to look at him.</p><p>His eyes were dark and unreadable as he stared at the room. His jawline was locked tightly.</p><p>“I didn’t.”</p><p>Kyungsoo just held his breath for a few moments, but no further elaboration came. Instead, his fingers tightened around Jongin’s white blouse and he tugged on it lightly.</p><p>“Alright, we should go. That’s enough adventures for one day.”</p><p>Jongin’s eyes lingered on the ashen room for a few more long seconds, before he finally broke his gaze away from it, and a smile bloomed on his face.</p><p>“You’re right.”</p><p>Kyungsoo had decided to start chatting about something considerably lighter – his tuna sandwich that he’d dropped at lunch today and the uttermost heartbreak he had experienced because of that – and they were almost at that massive, broken gate, when he heard a sound.</p><p>He whipped his head around at once, fingers digging into Jongin unintentionally.</p><p>There was a man behind them in the distance of the hallway. A dark shadow of a man, who was dragging his feet from one of the rooms to the other side.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, at how dejected the man seemed, arms hanging loosely on both sides of his body, feet dragging across the floor.</p><p>His hair was a pitch black, very much like Jongin’s, but his skin was fair.</p><p>He must have heard Kyungsoo’s little gasp, because he stopped in the middle of the hallway and slowly turned his head in their direction. His skin was fair, white, almost like porcelain. His eyes were big and round, with a twist in the edge that made him look like a feline.</p><p>Jongin moved his arm then, the one Kyungsoo was holding on to for dear life, pulling him a little behind himself. Kyungsoo just stared on as the stranger’s already big and round eyes widened even more. He straightened a little, his dejection fading away into utter shock and surprise.</p><p>His eyes were firmly trained on Kyungsoo as confusion flowed onto his face, realization slowly spreading all the way to his eyes.</p><p>“You need to go,” Jongin said then, rather quietly. Kyungsoo’s breath hitched as he looked up towards Jongin and the sharp line of his jawline. His eyebrows were narrowed again. He seemed serious, more so than Kyungsoo had ever seen him. Then, he turned his head towards him the tiniest bit, sharp eyes boring right into his. “You need to leave.”</p><p>There was something about the way Jongin straightened and pulled his arm away from him, something in the firmness of his voice and the twist of his lips, that left no room for arguments or explanations.</p><p>He just shot him another glance, and Kyungsoo stumbled backwards with a little nod.</p><p>His eyes travelled back to the man in the hallway, still looking struck with shock. His lips were parting slowly, and his flailing arm was moving up, a finger pointing towards Kyungsoo. He felt chills running up his spine, before a back obstructed his vision.</p><p>Jongin was standing in front of him. His head was turned the slightest bit and Kyungsoo could only see the curve of his chin when he hissed.</p><p>“<em>Now</em>.”</p><p>He felt a pang in his chest, and those chills up his spine yet again.</p><p>A thousand thoughts were clouding his vision. Jongin avoiding every topic regarding his family, Jongin never really bringing him to their home in the mansion. Jongin reluctantly answering questions about them. Kyungsoo had no idea what was happening, but he felt horror creeping inside him at the mere possibility that he might have gotten Jongin in trouble.</p><p>He didn’t stay behind to ponder on this. Not now. Not here.</p><p>He spared one last glance at Jongin’s broad shoulders and back, and then turned around and started running away as fast as his feet could carry him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The next day, after school ended, Kyungsoo found himself heading in a different direction than the usual ride up the mountains to the top of the hill.</p><p>After the encounter in the hospital wing and Jongin’s reaction, he wasn’t sure if it would eb the wisest idea to return so soon. He didn’t want to get Jongin in any trouble, and last night, he had seemed troubled.</p><p>Instead, Kyungsoo clutched his bad tightly, nuzzled his nose into his scarf and walked towards one of the many red brick buildings around the town square. The town library was pretty quiet, dimply lit for a place that was supposed to be accommodating enough for hours and hours of reading. It was quiet and peaceful.</p><p>He wouldn’t say he was a regular – definitely not like Junmyeon who had his own designated spot in the corner where the lights from the windows hit – no. But he was definitely one of the high school students who bothered coming instead of looking everything up online. Which was probably what earned him the kind smile from the librarian at the front desk when she saw him walking in.</p><p>That, or the fact that everyone knew each other in a town this small.</p><p>Either way. He was here now. He had to admit, he had tried looking it up last night, as sleep had kept slipping through his fingertips. But there seemed to be no information about the mansion online, none that he could find anyways. So what better way to look for details than visit the local library and its very own town archive section?</p><p>Kyungsoo dropped his bag on the ground, next to the empty table at the town archive section, and looked up to the tall bookcases. The sigh was building up in his throat, but he ignored that as he rolled up the sleeves of his sweater and stepped forward.</p><p>It was going to be a long afternoon.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It had been hours in the dimly lit library, and even the light that had been streaming in from the window was now gone with the last rays of the setting sun disappearing and darkness engulfing their little town.</p><p>His eyelids felt heavy, and he had to fight yet another yawn, as he flipped through the pages. His eyes were glassing over, and his shoulders felt heavy.</p><p>Hours and hours of browsing and reading, and he still hadn’t found anything. The stack of books was only growing taller by the minute.</p><p>It was yet another light in the distance clicking and the shuffling of a tired sophomore dragging his feet across the library towards the exit, when reality hit Kyungsoo. He leaned back in his chair and stretched back. He almost winced at the pain that shot through his spine after he’d spent hours bent over the table, reading.</p><p>That was enough for today, he decided as he stretched his neck back. The pull was painful but sweet at the same time. He was just going to come back tomorrow and continue with the next book from the next library section.</p><p>He glanced back towards the book, eyes scanning the rest of the page quickly. Archives, land types, ownership records. He flipped the page, eyes straining yet again as they took in all the words.</p><p>Another page. And another. His finger was playing with the edge of the page, ready to flip before he’d even read everything.</p><p>Another page. Mayor records. Family lines. History of the region.</p><p>And then he froze. Finger half-bending the page, ready to flip, when his eyes focused on the words.</p><p><em>Kim Jongmin</em>. <em>1788 – 1841</em></p><p>Kyungsoo blinked, as he leaned down further. His eyes were suddenly clear, mind suddenly alert, as he read the text. Founder of a medical society in the west points of the land, moved with his family to the region, grounded a hospital.</p><p>He realized he was breathing heavily, all the points checking out so far, as he flipped the page, eyes hungrily looking for the information he so desperately needed.</p><p>And surely enough, there it was – a faded, old black and white photograph of the mansion. As lonely as ever, on top of the distant hill. Once tall and proud, impressive. Not crippled and burnt, winded and forgotten. His breath caught in his throat.</p><p><em>The first medical centre of its kind in this part of the country</em>, Kyungsoo read, as his fingers grazed the picture of the mansion<em>. An institution to contain dangerous individuals and help heal them from the illnesses nesting in their minds</em>.</p><p>Kyungsoo felt chills crawling on his skin as he saw the pictures of the patients on the following page. Unsettling looks in their eyes, tragedy looming over them. Desperation was visible on their faces, as the nurses smiled sweetly behind them at the old camera that had captured this moment for eternity.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s fingers grazed the paper again, fingertip travelling over the white sleeves of those shirts disappearing behind the patients’ backs. Containing them. Straight jackets. </p><p>His mind unhelpfully supplied him with memories from the ashen floors of the hospital wing Jongin had shown him yesterday. The broken equipment, the black traces of a fire. The strange chill that had ran through him once they set foot there.</p><p>And the stranger.</p><p>“An asylum,” he let out a whisper, his shoulders dropping as he read the rest of the paragraph that confirmed his speculations.</p><p>The hospital, the biggest hospital in the region, it had once been an asylum.</p><p>He closed the book and left it on top of the stack, another sigh building up in his chest. But there was something else this time, as well. A darkness creeping in his mind, as his eyebrows narrowed and images of the ashen mansion started playing in his mind.</p><p>Thinking about the fires that had engulfed the mansion made his skin crawl again.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t think you would come back.”</p><p>Kyungsoo breathed in deeply when the deep voice reached him, bouncing off the walls and seeping into his skin. He closed the door behind himself, the creek louder than the heavy raindrops that were hitting the old rotten wood of the house.</p><p>“I didn’t think I’d come back either,” he admitted quietly as he finally looked up the staircase. Jongin was leaning against the wall, as if he had been expecting him to arrive. His face was unreadable, a mask of an uncracked smile and calculating eyes. Kyungsoo’s fingers tightened around the strap of his bag. “I was worried about you though.”</p><p>The mask cracked then. Jongin’s eyebrows shifted and he blinked quickly in his surprise.</p><p>“You were worried about me?!”</p><p>Kyungsoo didn’t answer. Instead, his fingertips dug even deeper into the strap. He shot his eyes up towards the other boy, conviction and determination he had been working on gathering the past two weeks bubbling inside his chest.</p><p>“Who was that? Before?”</p><p>Jongin’s face shifted again then, morphing back into an unreadable book, the same conviction and determination that he had on his own face mirrored on the other’s expression.</p><p>“Family,” he said plainly and quickly, a dismissive tone to his voice. When he said nothing else after that, but just stared at him, Kyungsoo realized he probably wasn’t going to get the answers he was looking for. He bit on the inside of his cheek, shoulders feeling a little heavy.</p><p>“I figured as much,” he sighed, fingers dropping from the strap. “That’s why I didn’t come back sooner. I was worried I’d gotten you in trouble by being here…did I?”</p><p>Jongin’s eyes didn’t move away for even one second, but something in their depths melted away as Kyungsoo stared back. A softer look took over him, and eventually – there it was. A ghost of a smile on his full lips.</p><p>“No,” Jongin said quietly, his honey-like voice warming him despite the cool drift in the house. “No, you didn’t.”</p><p>Kyungsoo nodded silently as relief took over him. Good. At least that was one worry he could finally shake off.</p><p>His smile was a little wobbly and unsure, as he raised his eyebrows at Jongin.</p><p>“So, can I come in?”</p><p>Jongin’s smile widened then, white teeth displayed perfectly as he raised an eyebrow towards the door that was already closed behind him. He could practically hear the teasing even If he wasn’t saying a word.</p><p>“Shut up,” Kyungsoo mumbled, and Jongin’s chuckle was quiet and warm.</p><p>Then, he jugged his chin towards the staircase, and the warmth from his smile seeped into the rest of his body as he seemingly relaxed and drummed his fingers on the wooden handrail of the stairs.</p><p>“Come on,” Jongin urged quietly, and it was all Kyungsoo needed to hear after all those hesitations to lunge forward with the widest he had smiled in the last two weeks.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The hours passed quickly talking to Jongin. Kyungsoo hadn’t even realized the sun had set again, he hadn’t even realized he had been here this long, talking to the other boy, watching him soak up every word that dropped from his lips.</p><p>Jongin didn’t speak much. He replied when he asked him something, or when he had an input on something Kyungsoo was saying. But he was, for the most part, just sitting on the bed across him and listening. Looking at him without breaking eye contact when he was speaking, attentive to every word and gesture.</p><p>“You know,” he started at some point, which made Kyungsoo perk up. He blinked up towards Jongin, not surprised to catch him staring already. “You’re very different.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s head tilted. From what he had gathered, Jongin didn’t really have a lot of friends. He didn’t really go out much. What was he different from?</p><p>His heart decided to skip a beat in his chest then, and he felt the heat rising up to his neck and cheeks. He had to look down to hide his face and that unmistakable blush that was spreading under his skin. He wanted to kick himself.</p><p>“Cheesy.”</p><p>“No, I mean it,” Jongin said almost immediately, voice insisting. Kyungsoo had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from grinning too much. To stop his mind from jumping to conclusions. Instead, he looked up towards Jongin slowly, and the other boy was staring at him with wonder in his eyes. He leaned against the canopy, eyebrows narrowing just the tiniest bit. “Most people wouldn’t have come back after what happened. They would have been scared. Creeped out. But you did come back.”</p><p>Kyungsoo pursed his lips. Creeped out? Maybe he had been a little creeped out. Maybe a lot. But not scared.</p><p>He had no reason to be scared.</p><p>He just hummed, no definitive answer, and Jongin shifted on the bed, leaning even closer to him. His eyes were filled with curiosity.</p><p>“What <em>happened</em> to you?”</p><p>Kyungsoo felt the grip of his fingers on the edge of the chair tightening. Jongin’s eyes were pinned on him and he didn’t seem like he’d look away anytime soon. He was patiently waiting for a response, head cocked the slightest bit. He seemed intrigued.</p><p>A deep breath left him. A breath so heavy that it made his chest hurt and his mind haze for a few seconds. He felt his shoulders slumping down with the invisible weights that had been dropped on them all of a sudden.</p><p>His eyes flicked to Jongin again. Patient. Silent. Waiting for him.</p><p>No trace of the disdain that filled him up every time anyone else mentioned the topic. Just trust. Utter belief that he could <em>trust</em> Jongin.</p><p>“I almost died last year,” he said it, and the casualness of his voice made him want to laugh, but all breath got caught in his throat as anticipation blocked his airways the moment his eyes moved back to Jongin. He just blinked at him, eyebrows shifting the tiniest bit. “It was an accident.”</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>“It was stupid, really. A bet with friends. We wanted to jump into the river from the cliffs at Hollow Creek. We were on our way climbing to the top when I slipped. Fell all the way down. Hit my head,” Kyungsoo shrugged, as if everything else was self-explanatory. “When I woke up it had already been one week from the accident. My parents told me my heart failed. They barely saved me.”</p><p>Kyungsoo shrugged again, the smile stretching his lips as irony started heaving in his chest.</p><p>“I don’t even remember anything,” he concluded with a low chuckle. “Just darkness. And then a whole lot of pain after waking up. Not very pleasant.”</p><p>Jongin was surprisingly quiet, even after Kyungsoo finished and silence set comfortably in the space between them. At this point of his story people usually were full of exclamations or were thanking all holy deities they could think of. Kyungsoo thought it all sounded very fake, so he barely listened. He had trained himself to smile at his mother’s friends, before all of them started chirping at him about the dangers of such activities. As if he didn’t hear about it enough at home.</p><p>“I see,” was all Jongin said, ripping the silence between them with his soft, velvety voice. Kyungsoo looked at him again, and all he saw was the same unreadable expression. His head was leaning to the side, as if he was curious. His black hair was falling over his eyes. “So you almost died.”</p><p>It wasn’t really a question. It was more of a statement. A wonder voiced aloud.</p><p>“Well, my heart did stop, so according to the medical reports, I did. For a minute or so, anyways.”</p><p>This was the point Baekhyun usually used to make a stupid joke. Or where he tried to ease up the tension in the room with whoever else he was talking to.</p><p>Jongin, however, remained silent. He just pursed his lips, looking at him like he was the eighth wonder of the world.</p><p>“I see,” he repeated.</p><p>Jongin wasn’t saying much but from the way he was still looking at him with hints of fascination, Kyungsoo could tell that he was genuinely interested. That, unlike some, he truly cared about what he was telling him.</p><p>“That’s why my mom is always freaking out,” Kyungsoo breathed out, the weight on his shoulders slowly lifting. “Why she’s always so worried about me. Why I have a curfew, why she always calls me.”</p><p><em>Now</em> there was a frown tugging on his lips. Now he was upset.</p><p>He looked down to stare at his own fingers, at how they were digging into the wood of the chair.</p><p>“I understand her,” he continued. His voice was quieter now, merely above a whisper. “She’s my mother. I can’t even begin to imagine how she must have felt back then, but-“</p><p>Kyungsoo blinked in surprise when another hand interjected his vision. He blinked quickly when Jongin’s hand hesitantly hovered over his palm. A tremor ran through his body when Jongin laid it down slowly on his. His skin was cold, but his fingers were soft, gently wrapping around his palm, squeezing lightly.</p><p>Kyungsoo looked up and his breath hitched at how close Jongin was standing to him now. He hadn’t even heard him getting up from the bed, but here he was now – holding his hand tightly, giving him a little supportive smile.</p><p>“It’s so <em>suffocating</em>, Jongin,” he admitted quietly, and he almost broke when the rest of the breath left his chest. “I feel like I can’t even breathe. Everyone is looking at me as if I will break. My mother, she-“</p><p>Jongin’s fingers tightened around his hand again, and Kyungsoo breathed in quickly through his nose, chest filling up with air.</p><p>“I understand,” Jongin said quietly, his voice as sweet as honey. </p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyes fluttered closed when Jongin’s fingers brushed against his soothingly, as if caressing him slowly. It was weird. It was odd. Funny, even, that he found consolation with this almost stranger.</p><p>Yet, the weird boy in the scary house seemed to be the only one understanding him without feeling the need to question him any further.</p><p>And that felt <em>nice</em>.</p><p>“Speaking of my mom,” Kyungsoo said then, voice louder again and smile pulling on his lips again. He tried not to let the bitterness erupt in his chest, and it didn’t. Jongin’s soft fingers around his kept it at bay. They filled him with sweetness, with joy. But the darkness taking over the room was noticeable, and just one look out the dusty windows confirmed his fears that the sun was starting to set behind the endless hills of the small towns. “She’ll probably be worried if I’m not home soon.”</p><p>Jongin’s gaze broke away from him slowly, almost reluctantly, as he too looked towards the windows. His lips pursed again, and his fingers tightened around Kyungsoo’s again.</p><p>He didn’t move away, and his grip on Kyungsoo’s fingers did not falter, even as he turned his head to look back at him again. He seemed regretful, almost as much as Kyungsoo was that he had to leave so soon again.</p><p>His eyes were beautiful and wide, chocolate brown so deep that Kyungsoo could drown just by looking at it. His lips parted, and Kyungsoo’s gaze shifted to them – soft plush, pink and plump. He wondered what they tasted like. He wondered what-</p><p>“She probably will,” Jongin whispered, and Kyungsoo sighed.</p><p>He looked down to where their hands were resting on top of one another, and he wished he could stay forever.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>And so, time started flying again.</p><p>Days rolling by within the blink of an eye. The white traces of winter slowly waning behind them, as meetings up on the hill became almost daily occurrences. The missed calls and unread messages piling up in his phone until the sun had already set, which was becoming later and later with every passing moment.</p><p>In the cold winter days, up on the hills between the old walls of the mansion, Jongin held his hand, and even if the air was cold around them, Kyungsoo felt warm. His hands were always soft, fingers brushing softly against his skin and melting his worries away as they talked on and on for hours.</p><p>With the first signs of spring and the last of the snow melting away from the hills, with the sun generously giving them more time together, the list of messages from Baekhyun rolling in minute after minute kept growing longer. He had missed arcade night now more times than he could count. But it was all worth it.</p><p>With the chill in the air leaving their tiny town, and the warmth of spring slowly creeping through the hills and giving life to the forests and the flowers again, they left the house again. Walking down the hills together, running on the fields, sitting by the river. And Jongin was holding his hand. Always.</p><p>There was distant chirping of birds coming from the forest, and the happy bubbling of the water hitting the rocks of the river. The nature coming alive again, filling the air around them with warmth and happiness.</p><p>Or maybe it was just Kyungsoo that was happy.</p><p>It was on one of those happy days when he was sitting down by the river with Jongin. His legs were thrown over Jongin’s on the grass, and they were talking about different flowers. Jongin’s fingers were loosely entwined with his, his thumb brushing patterns over his skin every now and then. The soft touches had Kyungsoo smiling at the bright sky.</p><p>It had been a minute or so when he realized Jongin still hadn‘t fired back at him about roses being better than daisies, he‘d been too distracted listening to the water to pay attention. But now that he was, he whipped his head towards Jongin.</p><p>He was looking at him.</p><p>Soundlessly, wordlessly, just looking at him with those beautiful brown eyes, and the pitch-black hair framing his face like a soft curtain. His lips were slightly parted, and there was a new type of longing written all over his face.</p><p>The type that left Kyungsoo feeling breathless when their eyes met.</p><p>“Can I kiss you?”</p><p>Jongin’s question was sudden, yet somehow not completely unexpected. It was quiet, yet it resounded louder in Kyungsoo’s ears than the rumbling water.</p><p>Four simple words that had his breath hitching at the unwavering gaze in those chocolate brown eyes staring right through his soul.</p><p>He moved before he even replied, the answer obvious. His body was burning up from the inside, hypnotized by Jongin’s eyes, as he reached out to run his fingertips down the side of Jongin’s face.</p><p>And then he leaned down, and Jongin met him somewhere in the middle, lips pressing against his eagerly, like he had been waiting for this for centuries.</p><p>Jongin’s lips were soft. He knew it. Goddamn it, they were soft.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s breath hitched again when Jongin’s fingers danced at the back of his neck, a tingle up his nape, before he was pulled down harder. Pressed against Jongin’s chest, hands landing on the mossy grass, as Jongin pulled him closer.</p><p>As his lips parted and he kissed him harder. As he let him in on all his secrets and all his emotions, as he let him become his for those few moments that lasted for eternities.</p><p>Kyungsoo felt the electricity up his spine, spreading all the way down to his fingertips, as he breathed heavily against Jongin’s lips, peering down at those dark eyes. The touch of his fingertips against his heated skin was addictive.</p><p>The seasons changed.</p><p>And they were outside on the fields, and Jongin was holding him.</p><p>And Kyungsoo had never been happier in his entire life. Not really.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Did you finish your sample analysis?”</p><p>Kyungsoo almost jerked at the sudden voice. He looked up and he had to squint against the sunlight until, finally, the two dark silhouettes in front of him took the shape of his friends.</p><p>“I’ll finish it this weekend,” he replied cautiously, reaching down to move his bag and empty the bench next to himself for Jongdae or Baekhyun to sit down.</p><p>Neither of them did. Not next to him anyways. They sat across the table, and there was an unusually hard look in their eyes.</p><p>“You said that already,” Jongdae remarked. “<em>Last</em> week.”</p><p>“We have two more weeks to finish it anyways, what’s the rush?”</p><p>He got no reply. Baekhyun and Jongdae just shared a glance. Neither of them looked too happy.</p><p>They were being unusually quiet too. Just sitting there without uttering a word.</p><p>Weird.</p><p>Kyungsoo was just about to take a bite from his sandwich when he’d decided that just sitting there and listening to the silence was not the best way to be spending his lunch break, but before he could even do that, Baekhyun cleared his throat.</p><p>“We went back to that house, Soo.”</p><p>His entire body froze and his eyes blurred for the briefest of moments. Then, he shot a glare in Baekhyun’s direction, dropping his sandwich back in the box.</p><p>“You broke in again?!” he outright hissed, and hearing it said out loud made rage bubble inside him. “<em>What?!</em>”</p><p>“Yeah, we did,” Baekhyun scoffed, clearly not intimidated by the fire burning in Kyungsoo’s eyes or the way the muscle was dancing on his jawline menacingly. Instead, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and his frown deepened. “<em>Soo</em>.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s jaw tightened at the soft whisper of his nickname. If Baekhyun thought that would in any way soften the anger boiling inside him, then he was wrong.</p><p>He was ready to give him hell. Him and Jongdae. For barging into the home of Jongin and his family. For being such dickheads. For never trusting him. For not having basic manners.</p><p>For everything, really. But Baekhyun’s hand caught his then, on top of the table, and there was urgency in the way he held it tight.</p><p>“Soo,” he repeated quietly, and there was a certain curve to his eyebrows, one that hinted that he wasn’t really going to back down easily. No matter how angry he seemed, there was also something softer dancing in his irises. Concern, maybe. “Nobody lives there.”</p><p>Kyungsoo looked down to where Baekhyun was holding his hand, his skin warm against his. And then up to his knitted eyebrows. Jongdae looked equally worried next to him.</p><p>Kyungsoo pulled his arm back with one sharp move, and he breathed in deeply. Harshly.</p><p>“Jongin lives there,” he said as calmly as he could. He tried not to sound too venomous. He didn’t think it worked though, at least judging by Baekhyun’s quick blinking and ever deepening frown. “Jongin lives there with his family. They’ve lived there for <em>years</em>.”</p><p>Baekhyun and Jongdae looked at each other again, and aside from all that anger rising inside him, Kyungsoo felt pretty hollow on the inside.</p><p>“We’re just worried about you,” Jongdae said quietly then. “You’ve been awfully absent lately-“</p><p>“I don’t have time to go to the arcades, I to-“</p><p>“I don’t mean the arcades,” Jongdae leaned over the table. “I mean in general. You barely talk to us. You’re never home when we call. You skip everything. You’re not even done with your schoolwork. You’re just <em>absent</em>, and we’re worried.”</p><p>Kyungsoo set his jaw.</p><p>“And that gave you the right to break into my friend’s house <em>how</em>?”</p><p>It was starting to get on his nerves how Baekhyun and Jongdae kept sharing glances. Like they were in on a secret he didn’t know. It was pissing him off.</p><p>“That entire house was empty, Soo,” Baekhyun said quietly, the spirit gone from his voice. “We searched every wing. It was all dust and burnt, rotten wood. No people, no trace of anyone living there.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s heartbeat was booming in his ears, he was afraid he’d start screaming in the middle of the school yard if Baekhyun kept talking. Another shared glance that put him on edge. Even Jongdae frowned.</p><p>“It wouldn’t be the first time you’d be seeing things after your accident, Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun said, with more finality in his voice, and before Kyungsoo could properly process the words, he continued. “We’re just afraid that whatever has you drawn to that house, to that <em>morbid</em> place – it’s not real. That Jongin is not-“</p><p>The clatter of the lunch box was loud when it dropped to the ground.</p><p>The beating of his heart was even louder in his ears, as he stood up. He didn’t even bother sparing Baekhyun and Jongdae another glance, as he grabbed his bag and stormed away. The fire inside him was burning with regret, hurt, and most of all – bitter disappointment.</p><p>Disappointment that no one other than Jongin seemed to unconditionally believe in him. Not even the friends he had grown up ever since he could remember himself. Not even Baekhyun and Jongdae.</p><p>And that just shattered his heart to pieces.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Jongin didn’t ask him any questions that day, not even if he saw the mask of fury on his face.</p><p>And he didn’t even really get the chance to ask him any questions.</p><p>Because as soon as he saw him, Kyungsoo had reached out to grab his hands, those oh so familiar cold hands, fitting snugly against his own palms. He had reached out to pull him close.</p><p>To seal their lips together and let the fire inside him get drowned by another fire.</p><p>A sweet sensation that dulled every other sense in his body, making him forget about everything else in the world until it was just him and Jongin.</p><p>And all questions that could have been asked that day, they disappeared together with the sun setting over the horizon.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo was sitting in the town library, looking up different books that he could use for the analysis of his dirt samples. He just wanted to get this project over with.</p><p>He’d been here for at least an hour now, working on his part of the paper at the dimply lit corner table, fingers anxiously tapping the table as his eyes kept scanning the paragraphs describing different properties of soil. To say he was bored would be an understatement.</p><p>He heard a commotion in the distant corner of the library. He looked up at the same time he heard the librarian’s distressed hiss of a hush.</p><p>Baekhyun, Jongdae and Junmyeon were sitting on a table there together, and Baekhyun was smiling, apparently happy with the havoc that he had wrecked. Junmyeon looked scared, urging him to shut up in hushed whispers. Jongdae was just soundlessly cackling over a book.</p><p>Kyungsoo didn’t realize he was staring, until Junmyeon turned and seemed to notice him. His eyebrows twitched in surprise, but his lips moved into the tiniest of warm smiles. He spread out his fingers, waving at him from afar.</p><p>Baekhyun and Jongdae were looking at him after that, and the ghost of a smile disappeared from Baekhyun’s face. They both stared at him, that same hint of worry that made him feel like shit passing through their eyes. Jongdae tried to smile but it was a wobbly and forced thing.</p><p>Kyungsoo felt a pain shooting straight to his chest, and urgency picking up when he saw the intent in Baekhyun’s eyes when the boy stood up.</p><p>He was going to come over to him, and he was going to start talking, and he would probably get them both in trouble with the poor librarian. He would start spewing lies to his face again, and he would make him angry.</p><p>And Kyungsoo didn’t want that. He just wanted to get away.</p><p>He shoved all the books in his bag, and before Baekhyun could even take a few steps forward, he had darted away, leaving the empty table and his friends behind.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Are you alright?” Jongin asked him quietly, his fingers dancing on the expanse of naked skin of his arm. It was soothing.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s lower lip jutted out and he refused to reply, instead turning to rest his head on Jongin’s shoulder and bury his face in the soft crook of his neck, breathing in deeply.</p><p>Jongin always smelled good. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what he smelled like, but it was fresh, unlike the still air in the old house.</p><p>He just moved closer, his hand that was wrapped around Jongin’s torse moving up to rest on his chest. His fingers sprawled out on his skin, feeling how smooth it was under his fingertips, how firm Jongin’s chest was.</p><p>He stared down at where his hand was touching Jongin, moving his fingers as if testing the surface. As if making sure it would not disappear. He didn’t reply.</p><p>Instead, he felt Jongin’s arm under his head tightening, pulling him closer on the bed, holding him tighter.</p><p>He felt safe here. He felt secure in Jongin’s embrace. Surrounded by Jongin, by his scent, by his breath, by his body.</p><p>“Do you want to talk about it?”</p><p>“No,” Kyungsoo sighed out, his fingers curling into a fist that was firmly resting on top of Jongin’s heart.</p><p>His eyes were still glued to where their skin was touching, his entire body was still reacting to the soft caresses of Jongin’s fingers over his skin, to his breath tickling his face.</p><p>He was real.</p><p><em>Of course</em> he was real.</p><p>“Alright,” Jongin’s voice was soft and understanding. Loving almost. “What do you want to do then?”</p><p>“You always ask me,” Kyungsoo smiled against Jongin’s skin, body relaxing a little. “What do <em>you</em> want?”</p><p>Jongin was silent for a while, and Kyungsoo took his time just resting against him and watching the systematic raising of his chest with every shallow breath he took. He ran up the strong defined line of his chest, then up his collarbone.</p><p>Then, he looked up to him.</p><p>Jongin was looking at him, the pitch black of his hair falling over his eyes and giving him a rather mystical look with the way his eyes were hooded and focused on him, with the way his soft lips were parted and waiting for the breath to escape them.</p><p>“I want you.”</p><p>Kyungsoo just smiled again, resting his head back down on Jongin’s shoulder when he pulled him even closer, nose pressing against the side of Jongin’s neck, lips pressing a soft and quick kiss against the soft skin. His eyes closed in content when he felt Jongin turning his head towards him, burying his fingers in his hair.</p><p><em>Real</em>. This was real. Jongin was real.</p><p>He was the realest thing in Kyungsoo’s entire life.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It was after several weeks when it started irking him so much that he could not help it anymore. Baekhyun and Jongdae were not even bothering to come after him anymore. They would just sit afar and throw glances towards him, and Kyungsoo would proceed to escape as fast as possible. Even the other boys were throwing him weird glances when they spoke. Kyungsoo tried not to linger around for too long, even when Lay tried convincing him that the new game at the arcade was fun, or when Chanyeol tried bribing him with a fresh batch of sweets from his family’s bakery.</p><p>It just felt hollow. And it hurt.</p><p>So he found himself in the library again. Going through the town archive sections, book by book, until the sun set down completely and he had to head back home. And there was nothing about the asylum. Nothing about the history of the hospital or the family that had once owned it.</p><p>So after hours and hour of fruitless research, he walked over to the librarian’s desk with the most charming smile he could produce at the moment.</p><p>“I was wondering if you can perhaps let me look through the books in the restricted section?”</p><p>“Oh?” the kind old lady mused almost immediately, hand flying up to remove her glasses. “Why would you need to look through the books there?!”</p><p>“I’m writing a paper right now,” Kyungsoo lied shamelessly, hand vaguely pointing towards the books sprawled on his designated corner desk. “About the town’s history and the movement between the neighbouring towns in the past century. About its effects on today’s economy and stuff.”</p><p>The lady did not seem convinced, so Kyungsoo utilized the best of his abilities to look as desperate as possible as he leaned on her desk.</p><p>“You see, it’s a very important paper, Miss Choi. I really need to get it done right because I want to attach it to my college applications,” he gave a lopsided smile. “You know how it is.”</p><p>The woman looked at him assessingly over the rim of the glasses she had perched on her nose again, then towards the pile of books on the table. Maybe it was his desperate expression, or maybe her deciding that no person in their right mind would spend days on end in the library by their lonesome, reading through town archive books, but she eventually let out a sigh.</p><p>“Alright, then,” she decided, and Kyungsoo tried not to look too victorious when she raised a bony finger towards him. “But you are not allowed to check them out of the library. And no dilly-dallying!”</p><p>“Of course!” Kyungsoo chirped, clasping his hands together. “Thank you so much, Miss Choi!”</p><p>And just like that, Kyungsoo found himself in the restricted section of the library, with a whole new shelf of town archive records to go through, and a whole lot of determination to find something that would prove everybody wrong.</p><p>He took a sip of coffee, before breathing in deeply, and grabbing the first book. It was going to be a long day.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>His breath was bated as his eyes scanned the pages.</p><p>After hours, after searching for so goddamn long, he finally found it. An old tome from the previous town hall building, bound in leather and kept safe with the history of trade and business in town.</p><p>And here it was.</p><p>All the information he needed. All bound in one book.</p><p>The year had been 1824. When Kim Jongmin moved to their town with his wife and son from the East. They moved into the Kim manor, and the hospital in the west wing of the mansion opened two years later, in 1826.</p><p>It had been operating as a general hospital for nine years, before they opened another wing that was specializing in the care for individuals with sick minds. St. Martin’s Insane Asylum. A sanctuary for troubled youths, the old tome read, a place to rid their minds of rotten plagues and <em>fix</em> them.</p><p>He kept reading, about the practices of the asylum, about how – allegedly – it was a progressive hospital for its times, developing new treatments. It had once been impressive and beautiful, Kyungsoo could tell even from the faded black photographs, with polished wood instead of burnt planks. With shining chandeliers instead of broken glass.</p><p>He flipped another page with urgency, reading about the patients that were being admitted into the asylum. People from the region and from far away corners of the country. Even from abroad, that’s how massive the hospital had once been. It was truly remarkable.</p><p>And then there were pages with scanned photographs. The images were crude, some things barely visible. The quality of photography from those times was scarce. Still, Kyungsoo could recognize everything in those pictures. The main entrance with the creaking door that Kyungsoo used almost every day had once been a heavy and impressive looking gate, with a team of doctors and nurses lined on the steps in front of it, posing for the pictures.</p><p>The broken tiles and scattered equipment in the now dreary hospital wing had once been set precisely, used and taken care of every single day.</p><p>The large chair in the dusty room, worn by the passing years, had once been shining leather.</p><p>A man was sitting on that chair, round glasses perched low on his nose, face blank and lips pulled in a tight line. A woman was standing by his side, hand on his shoulder. She was beautiful.</p><p>And then – that’s when Kyungsoo’s breath hitched.</p><p>There was a boy there, too, a young man. On the other side of the chair. His eyes were a copy of the woman’s eyes. His lips were plump and soft like hers too. His jawline was sharp and angled, like the man’s. He had the best features of his parents, the photograph capturing the little smile pulling on his lips and the heartless gaze in his eyes for eternity.</p><p>He was wearing black trousers and a white shirt that was loosely falling from his wide shoulders.</p><p>Kyungsoo almost dropped the book.</p><p><em>Founder of the Insane Asylum, Kim Jongmin, with his wife, Kim Hyera, and son, Kim Jongin. 1839</em>.</p><p>His blood was running cold in his veins, and he could feel his heartrate picking up, as he stared at the photograph.</p><p>As he stared at Jongin’s eyes soullessly staring at him through the paper from that old photograph.</p><p>“No,” he whispered, shaking fingers tightening around the book and bringing it closer. “That’s impossible.”</p><p>But there it was. The picture – unwavering. Unchanging. No matter how much he squinted, no matter what he looked at, no matter how blurry it was – that was Jongin. It was unmistakable. He could recognize those eyes anywhere. Those lips he knew so well, they were right here in front of him on that photo. The sharp jawline, the soft hair. Even the white blouse…</p><p>Kyungsoo’s breath left him suddenly, and all at once. His chest was hurting, he didn’t even know if he was breathing properly. His pupils were shaking and his eyes were blurring.</p><p>“That’s impossible,” he whispered again, finger brushing over the text under the photograph. 1839.</p><p>He was shaking his head, and the hurt and confusion in his chest were spreading. His entire body felt numb.</p><p>He was sure there was a rational explanation for this. Maybe Baekhyun and Jongdae were playing a sick prank on him again.</p><p>Maybe it was a mistake. It <em>had</em> to be one.                </p><p>He was shaking when his finger flipped the page again. The words were blurring again, and he could not bring himself to focus.</p><p>His heart dropped when he pinpointed another photograph.</p><p>Jongin again, a wild look in his eyes. He was sitting on one of the narrow beds in the hospital. He arms were tied, brought to the back with a straight jacket. A doctor was standing next to him, hand on his shoulder with an iron grip of strong fingers. The glasses were riding down on the tome and that thin line of his lips had turned into a deep scowl. <em>1841</em>.</p><p>Kyungsoo shut the tome, refusing to look at that photograph, and the sound echoed in the empty halls of the library, the only sound louder than that being the heavy beating of his heart drumming in his ears.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo pondered about it for days on end. He didn’t know how to react. He didn’t even know how to bring it up.</p><p>Hey, how are you? By the way, are you a ghost? Or a vampire? Or am I just crazy?</p><p>Yeah, that didn’t really seem right.</p><p>He sighed, as he hugged his bag closer to his chest, the outline of the heavy tome he had stolen from the restricted section of the town library clear under his fingertips.</p><p>The windows of his truck were wide open but when he looked up the hill towards the black silhouette of the dark mansion, it felt like there was no air around him. He felt like someone was choking him.</p><p>For the first time in what seemed like ages he was actually scared to get out of the car and walk up to the mansion. He wasn’t sure what would greet him this time around.</p><p>Thousands of questions had been pestering him these last few days.</p><p>Who was Jongin? Why had he never introduced him to his family yet, not even when they’d known each other for months? Why had he never joined him down in the town? Why was he never leaving the house and its premises? Why was he never speaking about himself?</p><p>Kyungsoo heaved yet another sigh. The mansion was dark and looming on top of the hill, throwing a creepy shade down the grass with the setting sun painting the sky a bloody orange.</p><p>All his answers were there. Right behind those burnt walls. All the answers he needed.</p><p>He walked up the hill with intent, even though his arms were shaking. With every step he took, more and more fear seeped into his heart. Especially when he saw the silhouette of the young man sitting on the stairs in front of the main entrance, white blouse blown by the soft springtime breeze.</p><p>Jongin straightened up when he saw him, but he didn’t move to get up. His lips pulled in a welcoming smile, eyes seemingly calm and curious as he watched him approach. The lump in Kyungsoo’s throat was growing.</p><p>“You sure took your time,” Jongin remarked, eyes shooting towards the car. Kyungsoo didn’t know how long he had been gathering the courage to get out of the car and march up here. It had seemed like hours of torture. It had probably been around ten minutes though. Which was, in retrospect, quite long compared to every other time he’d come up here. His mouth was drying, and Jongin’s eyebrows twitched a little at his expression. “It’s actually been a few days since you stopped by.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Kyungsoo said, and his voice betrayed him. The croak was loud and clear, the rasp was audible. He sounded like someone was crushing his windpipe.</p><p>Jongin moved then. He tried to reach out to grab Kyungsoo’s hand, just like he always did. And oh, did Kyungsoo dream about those soothing presses of gentle fingertips into his skin.</p><p>But he jerked away now. He moved before Jongin could touch him.</p><p>Which, in turn, made the last traces of a smile disappear from Jongin’s face.</p><p>“Is something wrong?”</p><p>Kyungsoo felt the storms inside him coming alive, the fear and confusion spiking again, as he looked down at the man in front of him. At that boy with golden skin and soft skin, with the sweetest lips and the prettiest eyes.</p><p>He looked so beautiful. So goddamn perfect.</p><p>Yet. He remained the biggest mystery, and Kyungsoo had no energy anymore to try figuring everything out on his own.</p><p>He pulled the old tome out of his backpack and shoved it in Jongin’s hands rather abruptly. The other threw a look towards him, before taking the book from him, eyes dropping to the title engraved in the leather cover.</p><p>Complete town records. 1804-1907.</p><p>He saw Jongin’s jaw tightening, and his knuckles turning white when he opened the book where the bookmark was shoved. He was looking down at the old photographs, the same photographs Kyungsoo had stared at for hours, trying to figure out what was real and what was not.</p><p>Because those photographs were very much real.</p><p>But Jongin’s fingers entwined with his had been real too. His breath on his skin. His soft lips pressing against his. His nose brushing against his cheek. His kisses, his hugs, his strong body holding his. Everything had been very much real.</p><p>Jongin closed the book slowly, still not looking up to him. His knuckles were still white, and the breeze was messing up his straight black hair.</p><p>When he looked up, it was slow and uncertain, like he, for once, was not sure exactly what to say. His eyes were wider than usual, like a deer caught in headlights.</p><p>And Kyungsoo’s heart sank yet again. He knew that look. That look was not of a man who was pranking someone. It was not the look of a teenager joking around.</p><p>That was the look of a man full of remorse, full of fear and agony.</p><p>“I can explain,” Jongin said quietly, and his voice was merely louder than a whisper.</p><p>“Please do,” Kyungsoo replied, voice just as hoarse as before. Just as broken. “Because I think I’m losing my mind.”</p><p>Jongin looked down then, to his hands that were squeezing the book so tightly. He was also trembling, Kyungsoo could see from where he was standing.</p><p>A part of him wanted to rush forward and hold Jongin, but his legs were pinned to the ground. He could not move. He did not want to, until he knew everything.</p><p>“My father was a great man,” Jongin started, his voice low, and carried by the wind. “Everyone knew of him. Everyone revered him. Kim Jongmin.”</p><p>Kyungsoo paid little to not mind at how Jongin spat out the name of the man like it was poison. Instead, he focused on not collapsing.</p><p>His father was Kim Jongmin. The founder of the Insane Asylum. In the 1800s.</p><p>The world was spinning around him, the air was thinning out. He was really about to collapse.</p><p>“And he was,” Jongin continued speaking, unaware of the troubles he was having breathing. “He really was a great doctor. He really helped a lot of people in his time. But then…”</p><p>Jongin took a deep breath and Kyungsoo looked at him, trying to focus on one thing so the world around him would stop spinning. He saw Jongin setting the book aside and grabbing his own hands instead, fingers digging in his flesh harshly.</p><p>“Then he opened the asylum,” Jongin whispered, voice almost as broken as his own when he had spoken earlier. “He said he was helping troubled youths. That he was ridding them of the demons inhabiting their minds. But he wasn’t helping them, Kyungsoo.”</p><p>Kyungsoo snapped at the soft whisper of his name. Jongin looked at him then, and the gaze in his eyes was distant and shattered, like he was reliving horrors he did not want to think about.</p><p>“He was a doctor, but what he did to all those kids….it wasn’t help. It was torture. It was…it was days and days of pain, all justified in the end with medicine. With his claims that he was helping them. With his claims that it was purifying them. <em>Healing</em> them,” Jongin shook his head, shoulders slumped a little. “But I could see right through it. I could see what it was. It was experimentation. On people no one cared about anymore.”</p><p>Kyungsoo shuddered at the words, eyes involuntarily shooting towards the mansion behind them. It had never seemed darker than it was now.</p><p>“Opening the asylum turned him into a sick, <em>horrible</em> man,” Jongin continued, voice just as low and hoarse. “And when I dared speak up about it, when I dared to confront him, to try to stop him, well…”</p><p>The laugh that escaped Jongin’s lips was dull and curt. Dry. Lifeless.</p><p>“He decided that <em>I</em> was the one who’d lost their mind. He locked me up in the loony bin,” Jongin’s fingers wrapped around his elbows, digging into the fabric of his white blouse. His eyes were blank and glazed over. When he spoke again, his voice wavered the tiniest bit, betraying him. “His own son.”</p><p>Kyungsoo pursed his lips, still unable to move forward. Or back, for the matter. He could not bring himself to run away now, yet he couldn’t bring himself to speak either.</p><p>He took those few short moments in which Jongin tried to compose himself by straightening up again to regulate his breathing.</p><p>“He was a sick man, and what he did to all those kids, to <em>me</em> – it was wrong.”</p><p>Kyungsoo shut his eyes then. He shut them tightly, until colours started playing behind his eyelids.</p><p>When he opened them again, Jongin was still sitting on the stairs. Still very much real. Still unwavering.</p><p>Not a mirage. Not an image. Real.</p><p>“What you’re saying…you’re saying that you are Kim Jongmin’s son?!” Kyungsoo asked, and, surprisingly, his voice was not shaking now. It was quiet. Steady. “The same Kim Jongin that is in those photographs?! You are…you are that man?”</p><p>Jongin just looked at him with those wide, beautiful eyes, and Kyungsoo’s breath hitched yet again when the wind blew past them and the pitch-black hair danced with it.</p><p>His shoulders dropped, and all strength left his body. He shook his head.</p><p>The only question he had on his mind right now was pressing and confusing him further.</p><p>“How?”</p><p>Jongin just shook his head, looking down at his fingers again.</p><p>“I don’t know.”</p><p>Kyungsoo raised a hand to hold his head. His temples were pulsing, his mind was on fire.</p><p>This man in front of him – the man he had told his secrets, all his weaknesses. The man he had been holding in his arms, the man he had let touch his heart, the man he was seeing every day for months – he was claiming that he lived in the 1800s. That he had been an insane asylum patient in an institution that burned down.</p><p>And that, despite everything, he was real.</p><p>Kyungsoo took a few moments to scramble his thoughts, to try to think clearly. To make sure Jongin was not a mirage that would just disappear if he closed his eyes again.</p><p>“The records….the records say the fire in the asylum was in 1841. It burned down the entire hospital wing, including the asylum,” he said, voice shaking. “It says there were no survivors in the entire manor. No single soul left alive.”</p><p>“That’s right.”</p><p>“So you weren’t in the mansion when all this happened?”</p><p>Jongin’s eyes shot up then, to look at him assessingly. There was a darker note in his gaze, the eyes of a mad man hidden behind the confusion and the pain of distant memories.</p><p>“Of course I was,” he said. “I started the fire.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s world was spinning again, but he could not look away from Jongin and the way he was looking at him with, despite everything else swirling in his eyes, honesty.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s chest constricted at the implication.</p><p>“It was a mistake,” Jongin said then, his sigh loud and raspy. “I wanted to hurt the doctors. I wanted to hurt <em>my father</em>. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody else. But I made a mistake, and everybody was hurt.”</p><p>Kyungsoo stood silent, watching the grim expression on Jongin’s face. The way his eyes shut tightly as he relived his painful memories. His knuckles were turning white again.</p><p>“You…you started the fire,” he said silently, trying to process the word, ultimately failing. “You really…you really were there?”</p><p>Jongin didn’t reply this time around. He just looked at him, and his eyes were wide and brown and beautiful. Clear again. Sincere.</p><p>He moved then, and slowly raised his hand. His palm was turned up towards the sky, fingers stretched out in invitation.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s pupils were shaking as he traced Jongin’s movement, as he watched him spread his arm towards him in silent invitation. His eyes were fearful as he waited for him to react.</p><p>To say he was afraid would be an understatement. Freaked out. Scared. Confused, above all.</p><p>He was so confused.</p><p>Because Jongin was dead. According to those records, and according to what he had just said, he was dead. He had died in those fires almost two centuries ago.</p><p>He was dead, yet here he was.</p><p>Sitting in front of him, stretching out his hand, talking to him.</p><p>Kyungsoo really was losing his mind.</p><p>He moved slightly then, his bones feeling rusty as he hesitantly moved his arm. His breath bated as his fingers hovered over Jongin’s. he was afraid to touch him now. He was afraid of what would happen next, now that he knew the things that he did.</p><p>But this man in front of him – he was the same man that had listened to him when no one else did. The one consolation he had had in those past months, the only source of happiness in his life.</p><p>And Kyungsoo, despite everything, trusted him.</p><p>Enough to hold his hand again, anyways.</p><p>His breath hitched when his skin brushed against Jongin’s. Softly at first, then all at once.</p><p>He grabbed his hand in his own, squeezing it tightly. It was cold, like always, but solid underneath his fingertips. He could feel the smooth skin, and the fingernails. The protruding veins on his palm, the delicate bone at his wrist.</p><p>He could touch him. And it was <em>real</em>.</p><p>His eyelids fluttered open again, wonder filling him up as he watched Jongin slowly wrapping his fingers around his again, holding his hand tightly.</p><p>When their eyes met, Kyungsoo saw relief spreading in the chocolate brown of Jongin’s dark eyes. Relief and a hint of happiness, as his lips twitched into the tiniest of remorseful smiles.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s finger tightened around Jongin’s hand again, eyes shooting to where he was touching him.</p><p>“How is <em>this</em> possible?”</p><p>Jongin seemed as clueless as he was, when he shook his head and the hair fell over his eyes.</p><p>“I don’t know,” he admitted quietly, a soft and elegant shrug of his wide shoulders. “The same way you could see me in the first place, I suppose.”</p><p>Kyungsoo breathed out again, a thousand new questions clouding his mind, as he looked down to their linked hands again.</p><p>He didn’t know a thing.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>And the days started passing again. Kyungsoo tried really hard to not depend on the mansion and Jongin so much, but he found himself coming back every day. Looking for answers to all the new questions that were swarming his mind.</p><p>Jongin had spoken more in the last days than he had in all the months they had known each other before that. He was telling him about the hospital and mansion, back in their days of glory. He was telling him about the times he lived in. About the old towns, about the people who lived here back then. About the world two centuries ago.</p><p>Yet, every time Kyungsoo asked about the asylum, his replied remained vague and curt. His eyes would become harder, and Kyungsoo learned that maybe post traumatic stress extended even to ghosts who were lingering in the place of their death.</p><p>He had somehow accepted the fact that Jongin was not necessarily alive. That he was a ghost of some sort.</p><p>That, however, after he held his hand and after he eventually let him kiss him again after days of torment, after he let him touch his hair and caress his cheek, that did not mean he wasn’t real.</p><p>He was real, and <em>this</em> was all real.</p><p>One day, he entered the house, searching for Jongin, when he saw another young man there. A man with pitch black hair and a stoic expression. His skin was pale and white, and he looked alarmed when he saw him stepping in.</p><p>“You should get out of here,” he said urgently, and his voice was deep. “You should get out of here while you still can.”</p><p>“Go away.”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s head whipped at the sound of Jongin’s voice. He was standing at the top of the staircase, and at the mere sound of his voice, the man in front of Kyungsoo recoiled. He disappeared in a fog, and Kyungsoo’s breath hitched again, brain trying to process what his eyes had just witnessed.</p><p>“Don’t mind him,” Jongin said then, and his voice was soft and inviting, and his skin was soft when he reached out to grab his hand when he descended from the stairs.</p><p>“Who was that?!”</p><p>Jongin’s lips pursed, and he shrugged. He had a sad look in his eyes.</p><p>“His name is Oh Sehun. He used to be a patient in the asylum,” he said quietly. “The ghosts here…they see you, and they are afraid for you. Many of them don’t realize the times are moving. They see you, and they want to warn you to get out of here before the doctors find you. They want to save you from getting hurt like we all did.”</p><p>Kyungsoo nodded with his lips pursed. He shuddered at the thought of all the ghosts in this mansion. Now all the distant creeks in the house made sense, the wailing of the walls and the quiet whispers. He knew now that he hadn’t been imagining things. It made a shiver run up his spine.</p><p>“What about the other man, then? The one we saw down at the hospital that time you told me to run away?”</p><p>“Kim Minseok,” Jongin shrugged, carelessly, walking with Kyungsoo back outside where the sunshine felt warm on their skin. “He was shocked that an outsider could see him- <em>us</em>. I was afraid of what the others would react like if they knew. Of what they would expect of you. That’s why I told you to run…I guess I was being selfish.”</p><p>Kyungsoo blinked at the little smirk on Jongin’s lips, and he tried not to feel too flattered when the other pulled him closer and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.</p><p>And they talked. For hours and hours. Jongin was telling him about the customs of their times, about daily life.</p><p>He told him how he used to sit at the corner of the mansion’s lands, watching the distant roads evolving. Watching the asphalt being set, watching the horse carriages get replaced by cars. Watching the forests thinning out and the skyscrapers of the distant city dotting the skyline.</p><p>There was longing in his voice every time he spoke about the outside world more freely. Longing to see what it looked like now, what it truly was like to be out there.</p><p>But he could not leave. His spirit was bound to the house, and he was caged in its limits.</p><p>That’s why he hadn’t joined him at the arcade when he’d asked, that’s why he never went beyond the gates when he was sending him off. Not it all made sense.</p><p>All Kyungsoo could do was tell him with his words about the towns. About the technology and the electronics. He could show him pictures on his phone, and watch the amazement spread on Jongin’s feature like childlike wonder.</p><p>And they kept talking, and Jongin was holding his hand, and for few short moments, Kyungsoo actually could allow himself to forget about everything. If he closed his eyes, it was easy to pretend that this was normal.</p><p>“I’ve been thinking about what you asked me before,” Jongin said one day as they lied down on the grass by the river. “How you can see me and touch me?”</p><p>Kyungsoo blinked towards him to see the other boy leaning up on his elbow and peering down at him.</p><p>“You told me about your accident before, and I didn’t think much about it back then, but you’ve actually been here already. You’ve been in our world. Even if briefly,” Jongin pursed his lips. “Maybe that’s why you can see me. <em>Us</em>.”</p><p>Kyungsoo didn’t move, he just stared up at the clear skies and the fluffy white clouds.</p><p>His arms were sprawled out on the grass, and he felt so free out here with the breeze messing up his hair, with the loud rumble of the river and with Jongin’s presence next to him.</p><p>He had never stopped to think about this. He had stopped looking for any rational explanations long ago. He had just decided somewhere along the way that he could not give up on Jongin, no matter what.</p><p>But what he was saying right now maybe made some sense. His heart had failed. He had been so close to death. On the brink of it really.</p><p>Maybe he really was weird, after all. But at least he wasn’t crazy.</p><p>Jongin’s fingers were soft when they brushed against his cheek, sending a shiver down his spine. Their eyes met and Jongin’s were hooded, focused only on him. His gaze was flickering down to his lips, and Kyungsoo’s mouth twitched when Jongin’s fingertip grazed the outline of his lips gently.</p><p>“Maybe you were meant to be here,” Jongin said quietly, inching closer. “Maybe you were meant to be with me.”</p><p>Kyungsoo pushed himself up to meet him halfway, pressing his lips against Jongin’s, feeling the other sigh in their kiss as he set him back down on the ground again carefully, caging his head between his arms as he swallowed all little mewls that left his throat when their bodies pressed together.</p><p>When they broke apart, both of them were panting for breath, and Kyungsoo’s heart was going to burst out of his chest. His breathing was heavy when Jongin traced a finger down his jawline, over his neck. He sprawled his hand on top of his chest, eyes shooting down. Kyungsoo was sure he could feel his heart beating loudly just for him.</p><p>“Maybe you were meant to join us.”</p><p>Kyungsoo was struggling.</p><p>Jongin was not alive.</p><p>Jongin could not be with him.</p><p>No matter how real he felt, how real all of this was, Jongin was not <em>alive</em>. He was a fraction of a memory, a lingering past in a tragic place. He was stuck here with no escape, paying for his sins in the form of eternal loneliness.</p><p>But then Kyungsoo found him. And he was not alone anymore.</p><p>Jongin laid down on the grass next to him again, his hands sprawled out as well, fingertips brushing against his on the grass.</p><p>“You escaped death once,” he said vaguely, and when Kyungsoo looked towards him, his eyes were lost in the skies. “Do you think you can escape it again?”</p><p>But Kyungsoo couldn’t.</p><p>He didn’t want to.</p><p>A sigh heaved in his chest as he turned to throw his arm over Jongin’s middle, inching closer to him on the dirty ground, holding him close.</p><p>He was tired of running. He was tired of being afraid.</p><p>He was entangled with Jongin on the ground, and when the other brought his hand around him, wrapping himself around him in return, the sigh finally rolled down his tongue.</p><p>He was okay with this.</p><p>He wanted to freeze this moment forever, lying down with Jongin by the happy river, the skies above them clear, the birds chirping in the distance from the forest, the sun shining. He wanted time to stop so he could live in those few minutes for eternity.</p><p>His eyelids fluttered open when he felt Jongin tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear. His fingers slid from his hair down to his nape – gentle, soft. As always.</p><p>His eyes were blown wide with that distinct longing and with nothing but truthfulness.</p><p>“I want you,” Jongin whispered, and his fingers dug into Kyungsoo’s skin.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s heart skipped a beat at that intense look, and suddenly all he could hear was the river. He wished he could be like the bubbling water in the stream. Flowing. Flowing and dancing freely. Defying the rocks, making its own path through the hard ground. Surviving.</p><p>Jongin was looking at him, batting his eyelashes slowly, and he was so <em>beautiful</em>.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s heart skipped another beat.</p><p>“Tell me you love me.”</p><p>But Jongin didn’t.</p><p>His fingers slipped down from Kyungsoo’s nape to his shoulder, and then back over his chest. When his fingers curled, they crumpled around the light material of his T-shirt, fist pressed tightly against his heart.</p><p>“I want you,” he repeated, quietly, voice carried away by the wind.</p><p>And Kyungsoo just sighed. He didn’t bother to ponder over that. Not when he realized that, just like the water in the river, he was slipping away.</p><p>His heart, he figured, belonged to the memory of a man. The same man whose hands were tightly wrapped around him.</p><p>And that, if he wanted him, he would have him.</p><p>For Jongin, he realized, he would do anything.</p><p>And that was okay too.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The end of the term was nearing, and the days were becoming warmer. The sun was shining bright, the air was dry. Summer was near.</p><p>Most of his friends weren’t even trying to initiate conversations anymore after school ended. They knew he would brush them off and rush to his truck, and then drive all the way up the hills, through the forest, until the gates of the mansion.</p><p>Today was no exception.</p><p>The drive was smooth, the roads so ingrained in his brain already, that he could get there with his eyes closed if he had to. Even the trees he drove past felt familiar already, he knew their shape, he knew their positions around the road.</p><p>But there <em>was</em> a difference today.</p><p>When he arrived at the gates, there was another car parked there. A small red truck that he knew so very well.</p><p>His jaw set tightly as he got out of the car at the same time the doors of the other car opened, and two people came out.</p><p>“Are you following me?!” Kyungsoo scoffed and watched Jongdae throwing a worried glance towards Baekhyun.</p><p>Baekhyun crossed his arms and gave him a hard look.</p><p>“We need to talk.”</p><p>Kyungsoo let out an impatient sigh, throwing a quick look towards the mansion. He wondered if Jongin was watching this from up there. He hoped he wasn’t. He didn’t want to explain his sour mood again.</p><p>“We could have talked at school,” Kyungsoo turned back to his friends, his gaze cold.</p><p>“As if you would have given us the time of day.”</p><p>Jongdae was probably right, but Kyungsoo was not going to admit that. He had been trying hard to ignore those two, especially after their last argument.</p><p>They had been right. About everything. Yet, Kyungsoo refused to acknowledge that. He did not want to admit that he was wrong.</p><p>And, essentially, he was not wrong. Everything was real.</p><p>Baekhyun and Jongdae just didn’t have the eyes to see it.</p><p>“What do you want to talk about?” Kyungsoo sighed, deflating a little.</p><p>“About that book you’re hiding in your bag,” Baekhyun said loudly, jutting his chin towards Kyungsoo’s backpack. He felt himself freezing in surprise, before Baekhyun continued. “Miss Choi told us you stole a book from the restricted section of the town library. You never went back to return it, so she talked to us instead.”</p><p>“That’s it?” Kyungsoo scoffed, fishing inside the bag to pull out the old tome with the town records. He tossed it towards his friends, and Jongdae struggled to catch it. He eventually did and threw a glare towards him.</p><p>“It’s not about stealing the goddamn book,” Baekhyun shook his head in disbelief. “We asked her, Kyungsoo. What you were reading about. And she told us you were checking the town records. You lied to her, that you’re writing a report, when really you were sitting there and reading about <em>this</em> wicked house.”</p><p>Kyungsoo opened his mouth to argue, but Baekhyun stepped closer to him and beat him to it.</p><p>“We went to the city, Kyungsoo. Jongdae, Junmyeon and me. We went to the city and did some research of our own. We found more records there. About this mansion and the hospital. The asylum.”</p><p>Kyungsoo recoiled, as if burned. Baekhyun and Jongdae knew now. The truth about the hospital.</p><p>Yet, that changed nothing.</p><p>He just gave Baekhyun a hard look, and his friend closed his eyes, shaking his head.</p><p>“You were talking about Kim Jongin before, right? You said you met him. You talked to him.”</p><p>Kyungsoo stepped back, and Baekhyun stepped closer.</p><p>“We found information about him as well. Do you know what we read?! Do you know- “</p><p>“Baekhyun, that’s enough.”</p><p>“-what he did?” Baekhyun continued without minding his raspy protest. “He was <em>crazy</em>.”</p><p>“Stop it.”</p><p>“He was <em>insane</em>, Kyungsoo. He set the asylum on fire. He killed <em>everybody</em>.”</p><p>“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”</p><p>“Don’t I?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow, raising a piece of paper. It seemed like a copy of a book page. Kyungsoo did not care. He did not want to read it. He was already shaking his head, but Baekhyun stepped forward again. “He was <em>hurting</em> his father’s patients. He got locked up in the asylum for it. Kim Jongin was sick.”</p><p>Kyungsoo was shaking his head still, hands flying up to hold on to his head again He felt like his brain would burst His chest was heaving again.</p><p>“You’re wrong,” he hissed at Baekhyun. “And you’re lying. You’re just trying to make me miserable again, you can’t accept the fact that I am happy with him- “</p><p>“Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun exclaimed loudly then, louder than before, and Kyungsoo gasped when the other lunged forward and held him by his shoulders. His eyes were wide and worried, he seemed distressed as he shook him once. Twice, for good measure. “Snap out of it! Are you hearing yourself?!”</p><p>Kyungsoo shook Baekhyun off himself, giving him a glare. Jongdae made a sound in the background, and Kyungsoo glared at him too.</p><p>“I have no idea how you found out about this man,” Baekhyun said again, voice softer this time around. He seemed regretful. “Maybe you read the stories about him somewhere and just remembered them. Maybe you saw a picture of him or something, I don’t know. But whatever it is that you’re seeing, whatever you’re hearing…none of it is real. That man has been dead for over 180 years. <em>He</em> is not real.”</p><p>Kyungsoo felt another sharp pain shooting through his chest at those four despicable words.</p><p>“You need help, Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun offered quietly, desperation dripping from his voice, hand turned upwards and inviting him. “Let us <em>help</em> you.”</p><p>Kyungsoo stepped back again, and his eyes shot up to Jongdae who moved to put his phone in his pocket.</p><p>“Your mother is on her way here,” he said quietly, and Kyungsoo felt the rage rising within him again.</p><p>“You told my mother?!”</p><p>“We had to,” Baekhyun shook his head, and his lips were pursed. He looked like he was on the verge of crying. “You are slipping away from us, Kyungsoo. We had to tell someone.”</p><p>Kyungsoo let out a dumbfounded breath, rage and confusion and anger and disappointment all swirling inside him. He was going to break at this point. He was going to fall.</p><p>“<em>Please</em>, let us help you.”</p><p>Kyungsoo stared down at the outstretched hand again, at Baekhyun’s pleading eyes. At Jongdae’s worried frown. At the thick tome he was holding on to still.</p><p>His head whipped when he heard a disturbance in the air. A distant sound of a police car siren wailing.</p><p>His eyes opened wide as he stared towards the forest and the unruly trees, blown by the dry wind.</p><p>And then his eyes found Baekhyun and Jongdae again, and a curtain dropped over them. Something dark, darker than anything he had ever felt.</p><p>He felt betrayed.</p><p>“Go to hell.”</p><p>His feet were carrying him without him even thinking. He was running, and he could hear his friends screaming his name behind him.</p><p>But he just ran. Ran as fast as he could, as fast as his feet could carry him. He didn’t stop to look back at Jongdae or Baekhyun or the forest. He did not stop to listen to the distant siren or to their screams.</p><p>He just ran, and the angry tears spilled from the corners of his eyes.</p><p>He ran past the heavy gates of the mansion, right into the familiar darkness of the burnt manor.</p><p>He shut the doors closed and used the last of his strength to pull the dusty cupboard, shutting the entrance. It would earn him a few minutes, tops.</p><p>His breathing was heavy as he looked around. Jongin was not here.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyes widened as he heard Baekhyun’s voice louder and clearer. He shut his eyes closed, taking a deep breath, before he rushed away from here. He walked down the familiar hallways, hands pushing against the walls as he rushed down the corridors.</p><p>“Jongin!” He was clinging on to the door as he peered into the empty bedroom. Panic was rising within him as his eyes shot around and he heard banging on the heavy doors in the distance. “<em>Shit</em>.”</p><p>He had the advantage in the house. No one else knew it quite like he did, after spending so much time here with Jongin.</p><p>A part of him was asking him why he was running? What was he running away from? From his mother? From his friends?</p><p>He wasn’t really sure. But they all thought he was crazy. And maybe he was. Maybe he really was. Maybe he was insane. Maybe he was a nutjob.</p><p>Maybe he did need help.</p><p>But the only person in the entire world he trusted right now was Jongin.</p><p>Kyungsoo stilled down in the hallway. <em>Jongin</em>.</p><p>He turned on his heel and started walking in the opposite direction of the hallway, rushing downstairs and taking familiar turns. The walls were becoming darker with every step he took, the licks of fire deeper and more prominent the further he walked into the house.</p><p>“<em>Get out</em>,” Sehun said when Kyungsoo walked past him and completely ignored him.</p><p>He even saw the ghost of the other man he’d seen before – the one Jongin had called Minseok. He was shaking his head, but Kyungsoo ignored him as well. He ran past him, and then breathed in deeply, before pushing the heavy doors of the hospital wing open.</p><p>Light was streaming in through the broken ashen windows, and he could see the dust in the air, and the broken legs of hospital beds, and the scattered and ruined equipment. He could see the charred floors and walls; he could see the destroyed remnants of the once prestigious institution.</p><p>And he could see Jongin too.</p><p>In the middle of all that ruin and haze, of all that chaos, there was Jongin. Standing still in the middle of the room with his white blouse flowing from his wide shoulders, with his soft black hair framing his face.</p><p>His chocolate eyes found his as soon as he walked in, and his lips pulled into a smile. A smile as welcoming as always, as he spread his arms and Kyungsoo just ran into his embrace. He buried his face in his chest and sighed out in content when he was being held tight. When he was holding Jongin in his arms.</p><p>When he knew, again, that he was real. That this was real.</p><p>That they were real.</p><p>“Don’t be scared,” Jongin’s voice was quiet, a mere whisper. His hands were drawing soothing circles on his back, and Kyungsoo felt the kiss that was softly planted on the side of his head when Jongin turned his face the slightest bit. “Everything will be alright.”</p><p>Kyungsoo just shut his eyes tightly, hearing the sounds of the sirens becoming louder by the second.</p><p>They were coming for him, and they were going to take him away.</p><p>And he wouldn’t be able to see Jongin then.</p><p>They were going to take Jongin away from him.</p><p>His fingers tightened around Jongin’s white blouse. Jongin moved his arms up his sides, until he was cupping his cheeks. He peered down at his watery eyes.</p><p>And then he kissed him.</p><p>And his kiss was intense and purposeful, a kiss that was not meant to be merely forgotten like every other memory that waned with time.</p><p>It was a kiss that made electricity run through his veins, a kiss that made his skin crawl, a kiss that made his breath hitch and his heart to misbehave.</p><p>Jongin was kissing him with fervour and intent, and Kyungsoo’s fingers were just tightening around his shirt, trying to press him as close as possible to himself, savouring every single second of this. Enjoying the sweet taste that lingered on his lips, and the gentle touches, and the passion that was flowing between the two of them as they kissed.</p><p>By the time they parted, Kyungsoo was barely breathing, and he was on the verge of crying again.</p><p>“I want you,” Jongin whispered against his lips, and his forehead was pressed against Kyungsoo’s.</p><p>He did not want to lose this.</p><p>Kyungsoo flinched when the banging on the doors intensified. He heard a crash, and then the cracking of old wood as people started infiltrating the mansion. He could hear the waning walls carrying the sounds loudly, he could hear people screaming his name in the distance.</p><p>“Everything will be alright,” Jongin repeated, and his fingers slipped away from Kyungsoo’s face. He sighed against his lips, and Kyungsoo was shaking, Jongin’s fingers slid all the way down to his arms, dragging his fingers to the tips of his fingertips.</p><p>Kyungsoo blinked when he felt something in Jongin’s hand. He looked down to see what his fingers had wrapped around, to see what Jongin had left in his hand before stepping back slightly, his fingers slipping away from his skin softly.</p><p>His breath hitched.</p><p>He was standing there, in the middle of the old hospital wing, burnt down and looming in darkness. The matchbox was light between his fingers.</p><p>He flinched again when he heard the people shouting out his name somewhere far away in the maze of the mansion. Looking for him.</p><p>And then he looked at Jongin. Standing just in front of him, with the smile of an angel and the most loving look in his eyes. He cocked his head and stretched his hand out again.</p><p>“I want you, Kyungsoo,” he said softly, and everything around them stilled down. The air, the wind, even the shouts of the police and his friends in the distance.</p><p>Jongin was here. And he was real.</p><p>And he had always been real. Always listening to what Kyungsoo said, always trusting his every word, always being there for him.</p><p>And if Jongin wanted him, then he would have him.</p><p>There was only one way they could be together.</p><p>“<em>I love you</em>,” Kyungsoo said, and his smile was content when the fire flickered in his palm.</p><p>Jongin raised his hand some more, and Kyungsoo dropped the match in order to catch his hand.</p><p>And the math was falling, and it was falling, and the shouts were getting louder.</p><p>The match hit the wooden floor.</p><p>When Jongin pulled him closer, his expression had changed. There was another nuance to it now.</p><p>Long gone was the sweet smile of an angel, instead replaced now by a grim leer pulling on his lips, and his chocolate brown eyes were shining with something new. Maybe excitement. Maybe joy. Or was it madness?</p><p>Lunacy?</p><p>When the fire caught on the wooden boards and started spreading, Jongin’s fingers tightened around him again, gentle fingertips drawing those same soothing patterns on his skin.</p><p>Just like always.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I was really wondering how to change up the plot I came up with, and at some point I was really wondering whether to not change some details and make this like a sequel to Peace Of Mind, but I decided to not do that haha</p><p> </p><p>I'd love to hear what you think, so leave a comment and let me know what you thought of this story~~</p><p> </p><p>Happy Holidays! xox</p></blockquote></div></div>
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